9 


THE  UNIVERSITY 
OF  ILLINOIS 
LIBRARY 

From  the  collection  of 
Julius  Doerner,  Chicago 
Purchased,  1918. 

TI4p 


I 


TAT.MAGE'S  new  tabernacle.     BROOKLYN.   N.  V 


Rey.  T.  De  Witt  Talmage,  D.  D. 


THE 


PALESTINE  SERMONS 

OF 

REV.  T.  DE  WITT  TSLMSGE,  D.  D. 

DELIVERED  DURING  HIS  TOUR  OF 

THE  HOL.Y 

FOR  HIS  MILLIONS  OF  READERS  AT 
HOME  AND  ABROAD, 

INCLUDING  GRAPHIC  DESCRIPTIONS  OF  SACRED  PLACES ; 
VIVID  DELINEATIONS  OF  GOSPEL  TRUTHS  ;  INTER- 
ESTING LOCAL  REMINISCENCES  ;  AND  VARIED 
MISCELLANY,  AS  INSPIRED  BY 

HIS  VISIT  TO  THE  MANY  PLACES  MADE  SACRED  BY  THE 
PERSONAL  PRESENCE  OF  JESUS  CHRIST  AND  THE 
GREAT    HOST    OF    BIBLICAL  CHARACTERS. 


**Talk  about  questions  of  the  day^  there  is  but  one  question^  and 
that  is  the  Gospel.  It  can  and  will  correct  everything  needing 
correction."— Gladstone's  remark  to  Dr.  Talmage  at  Ha  warden. 


II>LUSTRATB1D. 


Copyright  1890. 
CHICAGO: 
RHODES  &  McCLURE  PUBLISHING  CO. 

1898. 


PREFATORY  LETTER. 


Constantinople,  January,  1890. 

On  leaving  America  I  addressed  some  words  of  fare* 
well  to  my  sermonic  readers,  and  now,  on  my  way 
home,  I  will  write  this  letter  of  salntion  which  will 
probably  reach  you  about  the  Monday  that  will  find 
me  on  the  Atlantic  ocean,  from  which  I  cannot  reach 
you  with  the  usual  sermon.  I  have  completed  the 
journey  of  inspection  for  which  I  came.  Others  may 
write  a  life  of  Christ  without  seeing  the  Holy  Land. 
I  did  not  feel  conpetent  for  such  a  work  until  I  had 
seen  with  my  own  eyes  the  sacred  places,  and  so  I  left 
home  and  church  and  native  country  for  a  more  arduous 
undertaking.  I  have  visited  all  the  scenery  connected 
with  our  Lord^s  history.  The  whole  journey  has  been 
to  me  a  surprise,  an  amazement,  a  grand  rapture  or  a 
deep  solemity.  I  have  already  sent  to  America  my  Holy 
Land  observations  for  my  Life  of  Christ,  and  they  were 
written  on  horseback,  on  muleback,  on  camelback,  on 
ship's  deck,  by  dim  candle  in  tent,  in  mud  hovel  of  Arab 
village,  amid  the  ruins  of  old  cities,  on  Mount  of  Beati- 
tudes, on  beach  of  Genesareth,  but  it  will  take  twenty 
years  of  sermons  to  tell  what  I  have  seen  and  felt  on 
this  journey  through  Palestine  and  Syria. 

All  things  have  combined  to  make  our  tour  instructive 
and  advantageous.  The  Atlantic,  and  Mediterranean, 
and  Adriatic,  ^gean,  Dardanelles,  and  Marmora  seas 
have  treated  us  well.  Since  we  left  New  York  we  have 
had  but  a  half  day  and  one  night  of  storm,  and  that 
while  crossing  Mount  Hermon.  But  let  only  those  in 
robust  health  attempt  to  go  the  length  of  Palestine  and 
Syria  on  horseback.  I  do  not  think  it  is  because  of  the 
unhealthiness  of  climate  in  the  Holy  Land  that  so  many 

(4) 


PREFATORY  LETTER.  5 

have  sickened  and  died  here  or  afterward  as  a  result  of 
visiting  these  lands,  but  because  of  the  fatigue  of  travel. 
The  number  of  miles  gives  no  indication  of  the  exhaus- 
tion of  the  way,  A  hundred  and  fifty  miles  in  Palestine 
and  Syria  on  horseback  demand  as  much  physical 
strength  as  four  hundred  miles  on  horseback  in  regions 
of  easy  j  ourney . 

Because  of  the  near  two  months  of  bright  sunlight  by 
day  and  bright  moonlight  or  starlight  by  night,  the 
half  day  of  storm  was  to  us  the  more  memorable.  It 
was  about  noon  of  Dec.  18,  that  the  tempest  struck  us 
and  drenched  the  mountains.  One  of  the  horses  falls 
and  we  halt  amid  a  blinding  rain.  It  is  freezing  cold. 
Fingers  and  feet  like  ice.  Two  hours  and  three-quarters 
before  encampment.  We  ride  on  in  silence,  longing  for 
the  terminus  of  to-day's  pilgrimage.  It  is,  through  the 
awful  inclemency  of  the  weather,  the  only  dangerous 
day  of  the  journey.  Slip  and  slide  and  stumble  and 
climb  and  descend  we  must,  sometimes  on  the  horse  and 
sometimes  off,  until  at  last  we  halt  in  the  hovel  of  a  vil- 
lage, and  instead  of  entering  camp  for  the  night  we  are 
glad  to  find  this  retreat  from  the  storm.  It  is  a  house 
of  one  story,  built  out  of  mud.  My  room  is  covered 
with  a  roof  of  goats'  hair.  A  feeble  fire  mid-floor,  but 
no  chimney.  It  is  the  best  house  of  the  village.  Arabs, 
young  and  old,  stand  around  in  wonderment  as  to  why 
we  come.  There  is  no  window  in  the  room,  but  two 
little  openings,  one  over  the  door,  the  other  in  the  wall, 
through  which  latter  opening  I  occasionally  find  an 
Arab  face  thrust  to  see  how  I  am  progressing.  But  the 
door  is  open,  so  I  have  some  light. 

This  is  an  afternoon  and  night  never  to  be  forgotten 
for  its  exposures  and  acquaintance  with  the  hardships 
of  what  an  Arab  considers  luxurious  apartment,  I  S9,t 


690535 


6 


PREFATORY  LETTER. 


that  night  by  a  fire  the  smoke  of  which  finding  no  ap- 
propriate place  of  exit  took  lodgement  in  my  nostrils 
and  eyes.  For  the  first  time  in  my  life  I  realized  that 
chimnies  were  luxury,  but  not  a  necessity.  The  only 
adornments  in  this  room  were  representations  of  two 
tree  branches  in  the  mud  of  the  wall,  a  circle  supposed 
to  mean  a  star,  a  bottle  hung  from  the  ceiling,  and 
about  twelve  indentations  in  the  wall  to  be  used  as 
mantels  for  anything  that  may  be  placed  there.  This 
storm  was  not  a  surprise.  Though  pessimistic  prophets 
we  had  expected  that  at  this  season  we  should  have 
rain  and  snow  and  hail  throughout  our  journey.  For 
the  most  part  it  has  been  sunshine  and  tonic  atmos- 
phere, and  not  a  moment  has  our  journey  been  hindered. 
Gratitude  to  God  is  with  us  the  dominant  emotion. 

Having  visited  the  scenery  connected  with  Christ's 
life,  I  was  glad  to  close  my  journey  by  passing  through 
the  apostolic  lands  and  seas.'  You  can  hardly  imagine 
our  feelings  as  we  came  in  sight  of  Damascus,  and  on 
the  very  road  where  Saul  was  unhorsed  at  the  flash  of 
the  supernal  light.  We  did  not  want,  like  him,  to  be 
flung  on  the  earth,  but  we  did  hope  for  some  great 
spiritual  blessing,  brighter  than  any  noonday  sun,  and 
a  new  preparation  for  usefulness.  Our  long  horseback 
ride  was  ended,  for  a  carriage  met  us  some  miles  out 
and  took  us  back  to  the  city.  The  impression  one 
receives  as  he  rides  along  the  walled  gardens  of  the 
place  are  different  from  those  produced  by  any  other 
city. 

But  we  cannot  describe  our  feelings  as  we  entered  the 
city  about  which  we  have  heard  and  read  so  much, 
the  oldest  city  under  the  sun,  and  founded  by  the  grand- 
son of  Noah;  nor  our  emotions  as  we  pass  through 
the  street  called ''Straight,"  along  which  good  Ananias 


PREFATORY  LETTER. 


7 


went  to  meet  Saul,  and  by  the  site  of  the  palace  of 
Naaman,  the  leper,  and  saw  the  river  Abana,  as  yester- 
day we  saw  Pharpar,  the  rivers  of  Damascus  that 
Naaman  preferred  to  wash  in  rather  than  the  Jordan. 
Strange  and  unique  Damascus!  It  is  worth  while  to 
cross  the  Atlantic  and  Europe  to  see  it.  Though  it  has 
been  the  place  of  battle  and  massacre,  and  of  ancient 
aflSuence  and  splendor  as  well  as  it  is  of  present  pros- 
perity, to  me  its  chief  attraction  arises  from  the  fact 
that  here  the  scales  fell  from  Paul's  eyes,  and  that  chief 
of  apostles  here  began  that  mission  which  will  not  end 
until  heaven  is  peopled  with  ransomed  spirits.  So  also 
I  saw  day  before  yesterday  Patmos,  where  John  heard 
the  trumpets,  and  the  waves  of  the  sea  dashed  to  his 
feet,  reminding  him  of  the  songs  of  heaven,  ''like  the 
voice  of  many  waters.'' 

But  this  letter  can  only  give  a  hint  of  the  things  we 
mean  to  tell  you  about  when  we  get  home,  where  we 
expect  to  be  before  this  month  is  ended.  I  baptized  by 
immersion  in  the  Jordan  an  American  whom  we  met, 
and  who  desired  the  solemn  ordinance  administered 
to  him  in  the  sacred  waters. 

I  rolled  down  from  Mount  Calvary  or  "place  of  a 
skuir^  a  stone  for  the  corner  stone  of  our  new  Brookl^m 
Tabernacle. 

We  bathed  in  the  "Dead  Sea"  and  in  "Gideon's  Foun- 
tain,'' where  his  three  hundred  men  eagerly  lapped 
the  water  from  their  hands  as  they  passed  through; 
and  we  sailed  on  Lake  Galilee*  and  stood  on  Mount 
Zion,  and  Mount  Moriah,  and  Mount  Hermon,  and  I 
saw  the  place  where  the  shepherds  heard  the  Christmas 
anthem  the  night  Christ  was  born:  and  have  been  at 
Nazareth,  and  Capernaum,  and  sat  by  "Jacob's  Well," 
and  saw  Tele-el-Kebir  of  modern  battle,  andMegiddo  of 


8 


PREFATORY  LETTER. 


ancient  battle,  and  where  the  IsraeHtes  crossed  the  des- 
ert, and  slept  at  Bethel  where  one  ladder  was  let  down 
into  Jacob's  dream,  but  the  night  I  slept  there  the 
heavens  were  full  of  ladders,  first  a  ladder  of  clouds, 
then  a  ladder  of  stars,  and  all  up  and  down  the  heavens 
were  the  angels  of  beauty,  angels  of  consolation,  angels 
of  God  ascending  and  descending;  and!  was  on  nearly  all 
the  fields  of  Herodic,  and  Solomonic,  and  Davidic,  and 
Abrahamic  history. 

I  took  Rome  and  Naples  and  Athens,  and  Alexandria 
and  Cairo  on  the  way  out,  and  take  the  Greek  Archipel- 
ago, and  Constantinople,  and  Vienna  on  the  way  back. 
What  more  can  God  in  his  goodness  grant  me  in  the 
way  of  natural  scenery,  and  classic  association,  and 
spiritual  opportunity?  Ah  yes!  I  can  think  of  some- 
thing gladder  than  that  he  can  grant  me.  Safe  return 
to  the  people  of  my  beloved  flock,  the  field  of  my  work, 
and  the  land  where  my  father  died,  and  in  the  dust  of 
whose  valley  I  pray  God  I  may  be  buried. 

T.  De  Witt  Talmage. 


Hon.  William  E.  Gladstone. 


DR.  TftLMJGE'8  GEL  ON  MR.  GLSDSTONE. 


**Pray  come  to  Hawarden  to-morrow,''  telegraphed 
Mr.  Gladstone  to  Dr.  Talmage,  Jan.  23,  1890.  The 
invitation  was  gladly  accepted,  and  the  reception  given 
by  the  Ex  Premier  was  very  cordial.  The  two  gentle- 
men had  a  long  talk  on  religions  and  political  questions. 
Mr.  Gladstone  said: 

''Talk  about  the  questions  of  the  day,  there  is  but 
one  question,  and  that  is  the  Gospel.  It  can  and  will 
correct  everything  needing  correction.  All  men  at  the 
head  of  great  movements  are  Christian  men.  During 
the  many  years  I  was  in  the  Cabinet  I  was  brought  into 
association  with  sixty  master  minds  and  all  but  five  of 
them  were  Christians.  M\^  only  hope  for  the  world  is 
in  bringing  the  human  mind  into  contact  with  divine 
revelation/'  Then  placing  his  hand  on  Dr.  Talmage's 
shoulder,  Mr.  Gladstone  warmly  eulogized  the  doctor's 

(9) 


10 


Gladstone's  letter. 


Christian  zeal  and  expressed  his  great  gratification  at 
the  marvelous  publicity  given  to  his  sermons,  which 
are  now  distributed  in  all  lands  and  read  in  all 
languages. 

After  luncheon  the  two  men  linked  arms  and  took  a 
walk  over  Mr.  Gladstone's  vast  estate,  its  proprietor 
commenting  lovingly  on  its  wonderful  trees  as  though 
they  were  human  beings.  He  then  inquired  eagerly  if 
Americans  paid  proper  attention  to  tree  culture. 
Dr.  Talmage  asked  Mr.  Gladstone  if  the  Irish  home  rule 
would  be  victorious.  Gladstone  brightened  up  and  re- 
sponded emphatically;  *  ^  Yes  when  next  election  comes . ' ' 
He  continued:  ^^It  seems  to  be  a  dispensation  of  God 
that  I  should  be  engaged  in  battle.  At  my  time  of  life 
I  should  be  resting.  I  never  had  any  option  in  these 
matters.  I  dislike  contests,  but  when  Ireland,  once 
the  refuge-  of  persecuted  Englishmen,  showed  herself 
ready  to  adopt  a  righteous  constitution  and  do  her  full 
duty,  I  hesitated  not  a  monent  to  espouse  her  cause.'' 

Concerning  America  he  said:  ^'No  one  outside  of  the 
United  States  is  bound  to  love  it  more  than  I."  Point- 
ing to  the  numerous  beautiful  gifts  from  America  he 
went  on  to  say:  ^^Everywhere  I  have  practical  expres- 
sion of  the  tender  thoughtfulness  and  kindness  ot  the 
American  people." 

Toward  evening,  when  bidding  Dr.  Talmage  farewell, 
Mr,  Gladstone  pressed  into  his  hands  some  books  and 
pamphlets  containing  autographic  inscriptions,  and  also 
a  copy  of  his  own  Latin  rendering  of  his  favorite  hymn, 
* 'Rock  of  Ages,"  and  said:  ''Give  my  highest  regards 
to  President  Harrison  and  express  to  Mr.  Blaine  my 
deepest  sympathy  with  him  on  account  of  the  loss  of 
his  beloved  son." 


CONTENTS. 


"Life's  Great  Voyagk  :  ' 
Offfor  the  Holy  Land, 
Paul  as  a  Sailor, 
Ancient  Navigation, 
Trampling  the  Billows, 
The  Church  is  the  Dry  Dock, 
Love  is  the  Helm, 
Hope  is  the  Anchor, 
Faith  is  our  Canvas* 
Prayer  is  the  Rigging, 
The  Bible  is  the  Compass, 
Look  out  for  Icebergs, 
Keep  your  Colors  Up, 
Christ  is  the  Pilot, 
Incidents, 

Once  More  I  Confess  My  Faith, 
Good  By. 

A  Mediterranean  Voyage:" 
The  Appian  Way, 
Paul  as  a  Signal  Officer, 
An  Excited  Crew, 
An  Awful  Shipwreck, 
Tempters  Are  Not  Helpers, 
Dangerous  to  Refuse  Good  Advice, 
In  a  Cyclone  on  the  Sea, 
We  Expected  to  Die, 
The  Terrified  Passengers, 
Wild  Cry  of  the  Cyclone, 
My  Dying  Prayer, 
The  Beautiful  Morning, 
The  Glorified  Shore, 

"The  Clouded  Vision:" 

The  Illustrious  Paul, 

The  Splendor  of  Ancient  Corinth, 

Paul  Addressed  the  Highest  Culture, 

Our  Dim  Vision  Will  Grow  Brighter, 

This  is  True  of  our  Knowledge  of  God, 

And  True  of  the  Saviour's  Excellency, 

(li) 


God's  Providences  Not  Fully  Understood,  .  .  54 

Providential  Hindrances  in  Life,  .  .  .55 

How  Many  Shall  Be  Saved?  .  .  .  56 

A  Glorious  and  Everlasting  Reunion,  .  .  .58 

'*The  Beloved  Dorcas.  "  ....  61 

Dorcas  and  Napoleon,  .  .  .  .  .61 

An  Eloquent  Tribute,  ....  62 

Great  Weeping  in  Joppa,  .  .  .  .63 

The  Apostle  Peter  Appears  on  the  Scene,  .  .  63 

Dorcas  the  Disciple,  .  .  .  .  .64 

Dorcas  the  Benefactress,  .  .  .  .  66 

Queen  Blanche  and  Queen  Maud,  .  .  .63 

Burial  of  Josephine  of  France,  .  .  .  70 

A  Story  of  the  Queen  of  England.  .  .  .73 

*'The  Golden  Age  of  Jerusalem'  "  .  .  75 

Jerusalem  I— Its  Mighty  Past,  ^  .  .  .  .     75  * 

Solomon's  Splendors  Portrayed,  ...  76 

But  Solomon  is  not  Happy,  .  .  .  .77 

Solomon's  Riches,  Wisdom  and  Wretchedness,  .  79 

The  City  of  David— Sorrow  For  Absalom,  .  .80 

The  City  of  Great  Temples,      .  ...  82 

Christ's  Triumphant  Entry,  .  .  .  .83 

Hosanna!  Hosanna  Cry  the  People,  .  .  85 

The  Scene  From  Olivet,  .  .  .  .86 

The  City  of  Christ's  Agony  and  Death.  .  .  88 

The  Last  Sad  Hour,  .  .  .  .  -  89 

The  New  Jerusalem.  .  ,  .  .  90 

"The  Stormy  Passage  on  Galilee."  .  .  .93 

On  the  Banks  of  Galilee,  ....  93 

A  Beautiful  Scene,  .  *  .  .  .94 

On  the  Sea  With  Christ,  ....  95 

Christ  Stilling  the  Tempest,  .  .  .  .96 

Have  Christ  on  Your  Ship,  ...  96 

The  Martyrs,  .  .  .  .  .  .  99 

Do  Not  be  Frightened,  ....  100 

A  Good  Story  of  John  Livingston,  .  .  .  103 

Jesus  is  both  God  and  Man,  .  .  .  104 

Christ  Can  Hush  the  Tempest,  .  .  .  .  106 

**A  Marriage  Feast.  "  ....  109 

The  Wedding  in  Cana,  .  .  .  .  109 


CONTENTS.  Ivi 

The  Miracle  at  the  Wedding,  .  110 
The  Wonderful  Sympathy  ot  Chrisl,            .            .  .111 

The  Abundance  of  Christ's  Giving,            .            .            .  112 

Try  to  Make  others  Happy,             ....  114 

Christ  Favors  the  Luxuries  of  Life,  .  .  .  115 
Christ  Does  Not  Deny  us  Joys,            .            .            .  .116 

Christ  With  us  in  Our  Extremity— A  Stor3%            .            .  119 

Jesus  Invites  us  to  a  Grander  Wedding,            .            .            .  120 

"The  Sky  Anthem.  "               .           .           .           .  123 

Christmas  Eve  in  Palestine,             .           .           .           .  123 

Indigency  Not  Degredation,          ....  125 

Duty  and  Blessing,               .....  126 

Religion  is  Joyful,             .            .            .            .            .  127 

The  Manger  and  Throne,                .           .           .            .  128 

The  Double  Mission  of  Christ,             .           ,           .  130 

The  Vision  of  Battles,            ,            ,            .            .            .  131 

A  Touching  Story,        .....  134 

''The  Half  Not  Told.,,       .....  137 

The  Two  Circles,            .      *      .           .           .            .  137 

A  Vision  of  Beauty,             .            .            .            .            .  139 

The  Queen  of  Sheba,  .....  140 
Women,  Wealth  and  Religion,            .            .            .  ,141 

Earnestness  in  Search  of  Truth,              .            .            .  142 

Religion  a  Surprise,             .....  144 

The  Final  Wonder,          .           .           .           .           .  146 

''Downfall  ofathaliah."           .           .           .           .  149 

A  Word  to  Grandmothers,           ....  149 

A  Wife  Steals  a  Child,           .....  150 

Righteousness  Cannot  be  Exterminated,             .  152 

Persecutions  are  Futile,          .....  154 

Infidelity  Fails  to  Annihilate,  .  .  .  154 
The  Opportunities  For  Saving,          .            .            .  .156 

Persons  in  Your  Sunday  School  Class,              .            .  158 

How  Phocus  Dug  His  Grave  and  Died,            .            .            .  159 

The  Church  is  a  Good  Hiding  Place,                .            .  160 

Save  Your  Children,             .           .            .            .           .  163 

"Salvation  By  Faith  . "            ....  167 

The  Crash  of  Earthquakes,  ....  169 
The  Savior's  Name,  .  .  .  .  .170 
The  Wondrous  Death,          .                       .            .  .172 


14 


CONTKNTS. 


A  Story  of  a  Young  M  l                          .            c            -  173 

How  to  Trust  Christ,            .                        ,            .  173 

A  Mother's  Story,           .            .            .            o            .  179 

''The  Name  OF  Jesus."         ....  181 

A  Beautiful  Name,           .           .           .           .           .  183 

A  Mighty  Name,                   .            .            .            .  186 

An  Enduring  Name,         .            .            .            ,            .  188 

"The  House  ON  THE  Wall."            .           ,           .  195 

Two  Spies,          ......  196 

The  Scarlet  Thread,               .            .            .            .  198 

My  Good  Mother,           .            .            .            .            .  204 

"The  Glorious  CnrisT."        -           .           .           .  209 

Preaching  Christ  Effectually,       ....  211 

Story  of  Saladin,       .....  215 

Dying  Words  of  Saints,  .....  216 

"Henry  W.  Grady."            ....  221 

Grady's  Faith  in  the  Gospel,        ....  225 

Gladstone's  Wonderful  Testimony,     .            .            .  227 

Opportunities  of  Journalism,        .            .            .            .  229 

Grady,  the  Christian  Patriot,             .            .            .  230 
Grady  for  the  New  South,           .           .           .  .231 

"Revision  of  Creeds."         ....  237 

In  the  Tomb  of  Lazarus,             ....  239 

.  Creeds  and  Revisions,            ....  240 

All  Infants  are  Saved,    .           .           .           .           .  242 

Good  Advice,            .....  249 

"Life  Over  Again."       .....  225 

The  Fountain  of  Youth,         ....  257 

In  Pompeii,         ......  259 

A  Word  to  the  Young,           ....  265 

Sowing  Wild  Oats,  .  .  .  .  .266 

The  Captive  Boy,      .....  268 

"Treatment  OF  Parents.  "        ....  270 

Parental  Solicitude,     .           .           .           .      .  270 

Story  of  a  Frencli  Soldier,           ....  274 

Where  is  the  Rocking  Cradle?             .            .            .  281 

"Angel  OLOGY."             .           .           .           .           .  285 

Angelic  Intelligence,              .           .           .           .  287 

Angelic  Multitudes,         .....  290 

They  are  Ministering  Spirits,             .            .            .  292 

"A  Dead  Lion."             .....  299 

Small  Faculties  Actively  used  better  than  Great  Faculties  Idle,  301 

A  World  Full  of  Dead,  Lions,       ....  303 

Living  Philanthropists,          ....  304 

Pharaoh  Seen  by  Dr.  Talmage  in  Egypt,              .           .  308 

"Easter  Thoughts-"           .           .           .           .  311 

Re.ting  Places  of  the  Dead,          .           .           .           .  312 

The  Gospel  Algebra,             ....  317 

Drum  Beats  of  the  Heart,         .....  318 

He  Is  Risen  Indeed,            .          .                .           .  321 


ILLUSTRATIONS. 


Rev.  T.  De  Witt  Talmage  D.  D. ,      .  .            ,  Frontispiece 

Talmage's  New  Church  Building,  .  1 

The  Old  World,        .           .  .16 

Jerusalem  and  Solomon's  Temple,  .  17 

Trampling  the  Billows,          .           .  .            .  .21 

Tarsus  the  Birth  Place  of  Paul,  .            .  30 

The  Storm,               .           .           .  .            ...  34 

Paul  and  Barnabas  at  Antioch;  .            .            .  37 

The  Golden  Hour,                .            .  .  .44 

En  Route,           .           .           .  .            .            .  46 

The  Ascension,           .           .            .  .            .  .53 

Unforgotten,       .           .           .  .            .            .  60 

The  Flood,  ......  65 

Mary  and  Martha,        .....  (][) 

A  Cathedral  Interior,           .            .  .            .  .74 

Ancient  Jerusalem,          .           .  .           .           .  75 

Jerusalem,                 .            .            ,  .            .  .81 

The  Royal  Rride  to  Jerusalem,  ...  84 

The  Mount  of  Olives,           .           .  .           .  .87 

Jesus  Crossing  Galilee  and  Stilling  the  Tempest,             .  02 

Saved  in  the  Ark,           .           .  .           .           .  97 

The  Peaceful  Little  Home,    ^           .  .           .  .101 

Jesus  Healing  the  Blind,       '     .  .           .           .  105 

Tropical  Climes,    .     .           .           .  .           .            .  108 

Christ  Turning  the  Water  into  Wine,  .            .  100 

Enough  For  Every  Brow  a  Chaplet,"  .            .  .113 

Sitting  Under  the  Vine,                .  .            *            *  118 

Song  of  the  Angels,             .           .  .            .  .122 

The  Star  of  Bethlehem,              ....  123 

The  Babe  in  the  Manger,                .  .            .  .129 

War  in  Ancient  Times,                .  .           .            .  132 

Bethlehem,                .           .           .  .            .  .136 

Earnest  Seekers,              .            ,  .           .  .143 

Napoleon  Witnessing  the  Burning  of  Moscow,  .            .  148 

Arc  de  Triumph,  Paris,            ....  149 

Paul  Before  the  Council,      .           ,  .            .  .153 

Love  of  Children,            .....  157 

Jesus  and  the  Doctors  in  the  Temple,  .            .            c  161~ 

Fleeing  For  the  City  of  Refuge,  .            .            .  165 

Abraham  Offering  His  Son  Isaac,  .            .  .166 

The  Transfiguration,  .  .167 

Of  Such  is  the  Kingdom, "                .  .  .180 

The  Peaceful  River,         .            .  .            .            .  185 

Symbol  of  the  New  Dispens.iiioi),        ....  191 

Rahab  Concealing  the  Sp;    .  19t 

The  Plains  of  Jericho,  .  .199 

The  River  of  the  Water  of  Liie,  ...  207 

(15) 


PALESTINE  SERMONS 

 OF  

T.  DE  Witt  Talmage,  D.  D. 

Delivered  during  his  tour  of 

THE  .'.  HOLY  LAND. 


(aSRUSAI^SM.) 

LIFE'8  GREAT  VOYAGE. 

[Delivered  on  board  steamer  "City  of  Paris,"  in  New  York  harbor,  October 

29,  1889,] 

^^And  they  accompanied  Him  unto  the  ship.''   Acts  xx,  38. 

OFF  FOR  THE  HOLY  LAND. 


|g=Sf?0  the  more  than  25,000,000  people  in  many 


^  countries  to  whom  my  sermons  come  week  by 
week  in  English  tongue  and  by  translation, 
through  the  kindness  of  the  newspaper  press,  I  address 
these  words.   I  dictate  them  to  a  stenographer  on  tli^ 


(17) 


18 


TALMAGK'o  ISERMONS. 


eve  of  my  departure  for  the  Holy  land,  Palestine. 
When  you  read  this  sermon  I  will  be  rftid-atlantic. 

I  go  to  be  gone  a  few  weeks  on  a  religious  journey. 
I  go  because  I  want  for  myself  and  hearers  and 
readers  to  see  Bethlehem,  and  Nazareth,  and  Jerusalem, 
and  Calvary,  and  all  the  other  places  connected  with 
the  Savior's  life  and  death,  and  so  reinforce  myself  for 
sermons.  I  go  also  because  I  am  writing  the  *^Life  of 
Christ, and  can  be  more  accurate  and  graphic  when  I 
have  been  an  eye-witness  of  the  sacred  places.  Pray 
for  my  successful  journey  and  my  safe  return. 

I  wish  on  the  eve  of  my  departure  to  pronounce  a 
loving  benediction  upon  all  my  friends  in  high  places 
and  low,  upon  congregations  to  whom  my  sermons  are 
read  in  absence  of  pastors,  upon  groups  gathered  out 
on  prairies  and  in  mining  districts,  upon  all  sick  and 
invalid  and  aged  ones  who  cannot  attend  churches,  but 
to  whom  I  have  long  administered  through  the  printed 
page.  My  next  sermon  will  be  addressed  to  you  from 
Rome.  I  think  I  feel  like  Paul  when  he  said:  *'So,  as 
much  as  in  me  is ,  I  am  ready  to  preach  the  gospel  to 
you  that  are  at  Rome  also/' 

PAUL  AS  A  SAILOR. ' 

The  fact  is  that  Paul  was  ever  moving  about  on  land 
or  sea.  He  was  an  old  sailor — not  from  occupation, 
but  from  frequency  of  travel.  I  think  he  could  have 
taken  a  vessel  across  the  Mediterranean  as  well  as 
some  of  the  ship  captains.  The  sailors  never  scoffed 
at  him  for  being  a  ^4and  lubber/'  If  Paul's  advice  had 
been  taken  the  crew  would  never  have  gone  ashore  at 
Melita. 

When  the  vessel  went  >^ciuUlii]!g  under  bare  poles  Paul 
was  the  only  sdf-pOvSSessed  wmm  Qti  board,  and,  turning 


life's  great  voyage. 


19 


to  the  excited  passengers,  he  exclaims  in  a  voice  that 
sounds  above  the  thunder  of  the  tempest  and  the  wrath 
of  the  sea:     Be  of  good  cheer." 

ANCIENT  NAVIGATION. 

The  men  who  now  go  to  sea  with  maps,  and  charts, 
and  modem  compass,  warned  by  buoys  and  light-house, 
know  nothing  of  the  perils  of  ancient  navigation. 
Horace  said  that  the  man  who  first  ventured  on  the 
sea  must  have  had  a  heart  bound  with  oak  and  triple 
brass.  People  then  ventured  only  from  headland  to 
headland  and  from  island  to  island,  and  not  until  long 
after  spread  their  sail  for  a  voyage  across  the  sea.  Be- 
fore starting  the  weather  was  watched,  and  the  vessel 
having  been  hauled  up  on  the  shore  the  mariners  placed 
their  shoulders  against  the  stern  of  the  ship  and  heaved 
it  off,  they  at  the  last  moment  leaping  into  it.  Vessels 
were  then  chiefly  ships  of  burden — the  transit  of  pass- 
engers being  the  exception;  for  the  world  was  not  then 
migratory  as  in  our  day,  when  the  first  desire  of  a 
man  in  one  place  seems  to  be  to  go  into  another  place. 
The  ship  from  which  Jonah  was  thrown  overboard 
and  in  that  which  Paul  was  carried  prisoner  went  out 
chiefly  with  the  idea  of  taking  a  cargo.  As  now,  so 
then,  vessels  were  accustomed  to  carry  a  flag.  In  those 
times  it  was  inscribed  with  the  name  of  a  heathen 
deity.  A  vessel  bound  for  Syracuse  had  on  it  the  in- 
scription ''Castor  and  Pollux. 

The  ships  were  provided  with  anchors.  Anchors 
were  of  two  different  kinds — those  that  were  dropped 
into  the  sea  and  those  that  were  thrown  up  onto  the 
rocks  to  hold  the  vessel  fast.  This  last  kind  was  what 
Paul  alluded  to  when  he  said:    ''Which  hope  we  have 


20 


TALMAGE^S  SERMONS. 


as  an  a\ichor  of  the  soul,  both  sure  and  steadfast,  and 
which  entereth  into  that  within  the  vail.'*  That  was 
what  the  sailors  call  a  ^ 'hook  anchor/'  The  rocks  and 
sand-bars,  shoals  and  headlands,  not  being  mapped  out, 
vessels  carried  a  plumb  line.  They  would  drop  it  and 
find  the  water  fifty  fathoms,  and  drop  it  again 
and  find  it  forty  fathoms,  and  drop  it  again  and  find 
it  thirty  fathoms,  thus  discovering  their  near  approach 
to  the  shore. 

TRAMPLING  THE  BILLOWS. 

In  the  spring,  summer,  and  autumn,  the  Mediterran- 
ean sea  was  white  with  the  wings  of  ships,  but  at  the 
first  wintry  blast  they  hied  themselves  to  the  nearest 
harbor,  although  now  the  world's  commerce  prospers 
in  January  as  well  as  in  June,  and  in  mid-winter  all 
over  the  wide  and  stormy  deep  there  floats  palaces  of 
light,  trampling  the  billows  under  foot  and  showering 
the  sparks  of  terrible  furnaces  on  the  wild  wind,  and 
the  Christian  passenger,  tippeted  and  shawled,  sits 
under  the  shelter  of  the  smoke-stack,  looking  off  upon 
the  phosphorescent  deep,  on  which  is  written  in  scrolls 
of  foam  and  fire:  *^Thy  way,  O  God,  is  in  the  sea  and 
thy  path  in  the  great  waters! '* 

It  is  in  those  days  of  early  navigation  that  I  see  a 
group  of  men,  women,  and  children  on  the  beach  of  the 
Mediterranean.  Paul  is  about  to  leave  the  congrega- 
tion to  whom  he  had  preached  and  they  are  come  down 
to  see  him  off.  It  is  a  solemn  thing  to  part.  There 
are  so  niany  traps  that  wait  for  a  man's  feet.  The 
solid  ground  may  break  through,  and  the  sea— how 
many  dark  mysteries  it  hides  in  its  bosom!  A  few 
counsels,  a  hasty  good-by,  a  last  look,  and  the  ropes 
rattle,  and  the  Scils  are  hoisted,  and  the  planks  are 


22 


talmage's  sermon? 


hauled  in,  and  Paul  is  gone.  I  expect  to  sail  over  some 
of  the  same  waters  over  which  Paul  sailed,  but  before 
going  I  want  to  urge  jou  all  to  embark  for  heaven.  • 

THE  CHURCH  IS  THE  DRY  DOCK  FOR  REPAIRS. 

The  church  is  the  dry  dock  where  souls  are  to  be 
fitted  out  for  heaven.  In  making  a  vessel  for  this  voy- 
age the  first  need  is  sound  timber.  The  floor  timbers 
ought  to  be  of  solid  stuff.  For  the  want  of  it  vessels 
that  look  able  to  run  their  jibbooms  into  the  eye  of  any 
tempest  when  caught  in  a  storm  have  been  crushed  like 
a  wafer.  The  truths  of  God^s  word  are  what  I  mean 
by  floor  timbers.  Away  with  your  lighter  materials. 
Nothing  but  oaks  hewn  in  the  forest  of  divine  truth, 
are  staunch  enough  for  this  craft. 

LOVE  IS  THE  HELM. 

You  must  have  love  for  a  helm  to  guide  and  turn  the 
craft.  Neither  pride  nor  ambition  nor  avarice  will  do 
for  a  rudder.  Love,  not  only  in  the  heart,  but  flash- 
ing in  the  eye  and  tingling  in  the  hand — love  married 
to  work,  which  many  look  upon  as  so  homely  a  bride — 
love,  not  like  brooks,  which  foam  and  rattle,  yet  do 
nothing,  but  love  like  a  river,  that  runs  up  the  steps 
of  mill-wheels  •  and  works  in  the  harness  of  factory 
bands — love  that  will  not  pass  by  on  the  other  side, 
but  visits  the  man  who  fell  among  thieves  near  Jericho, 
not  merely  saying;  ^*Poor  fellow!  you  are  dreadfully 
hurt,''  but  like  the  good  Samaritan,  pours  in  oil  and 
wine  and  pays  his  board  at  the  tavern.  There  must 
also  be  a  prow,  aranged  to  cut  and  override  the  bil- 
low. That  is  Christian  perservance.  Thefe  are  three 
mountain  surges  that  sometimes  dash  againist  a  soul 


in  a  minute — the  world,  the  flesh  and  the  devil— and 
that  is  a  well  built  prow  that  can  bound  over  them. 
For  lack  of  this  many  have  put  back  and  never  started 
again.  It  is  the  broadside  wave  that  so  often  sweeps 
the  deck  and  fills  the  hatches,  but  that  which  strikes  in 
front  is  harmless.  Meet  troubles  courageously  and 
you  surmount  them.  Stand  on  the  prow,  and  as  you 
wipe  off  the  spray  of  the  split  surge,  cry  out  with  the 
apostle:  ^^None  of  these  things  move  me.^'  Let  all  your 
fears  stay  aft.  The  right  must  conquer.  Know  that 
Moses,  in  an  ark  of  bulrushes,  can  run  down  a  war- 
steamer. 

THE  ANCHOR  IS  HOPE. 

Have  a  good,  strong  anchor.  Which  hope  we  have 
as  an  anchor."  By  this  strong  cable  and  windlass 
hold  on  to  your  anchor.  ^^If  any  man  sin  we  have 
an  advocate  with  the  father.'^  Do  not  use  the  anchor 
wrongfully.  Do  not  always  stay  in  the  same  latitude 
and  longitude.  You  will  never  ride  up  the  harbor  of 
eternal  rest  if  you  all  the  way  drag  your  anchor. 

FAITH  IS  OUR  CANVAS. 

But  you  must  have  sails.  Vessels  are  not  fit  for  the 
sea  until  they  have  the  flying  jib,  the  foresail,  the  top 
gallant,  the  skysail,  the  gafifsail,  and  other  canvas. 
Faith  is  our  canvas.  Hoist  it  and  the  winds  of  heaven 
will  drive  you  ahead.  Sails  made  out  of  any  other  can- 
vas than  faith  will  be  split  to  tatters  by  the  first 
northeaster.  Strong  faith  never  lost  a  battle.  It  will 
crush  foes,  blast  rocks,  quench  lightnings,  thrash  moun- 
tains. It  is*  a  shield  to  the  warrior,  a  crank  to  the 
most  ponderous  wheel,  a  lever  to  pry  up  pyramids,  a 


24  ^wTvTvIAge'o  sermoxc, 

drum  whose  beat  gives  strength  to  the  heavenly  sold- 
iery, and  sails  to  waft  ships  laden  with  priceless  pearls 
from  the  harbor  of  earth  to  the  harbor  of  heaven. 

PRAYER  THE  RUNNING  RIGGING. 

But  you  are  not  yet  equipped.  You  must  have  what 
seamen  call  the  running  rigging.  This  comprises  the 
ship's  braces,  halyards,  clew-lines,  and  such  like.  With- 
out these  the  yards  could  not  be  braced,  the  sails  lifted, 
or  the  canvas  in  anywise  managed.  We  have  prayer 
for  the  running  rigging.  Unless  you  understand  this 
tackling  you  are  not  a  spiritual  seaman.  By  pulling  on 
these  ropes  you  hoist  che  sails  of  faith  and  turn  them 
every  whither.  The  prow  of  courage  will  not  cut  the 
wave  nor  the  sail  of  faith  spread  and  flap  its  wings  un- 
less you  have  a  strong  prayer  for  a  halyard. 

THE  COMPASS  IS  THE  BIBLE. 

One  more  arrangement  and  you  will  be  ready  for  sea. 
You  mus  c  have  a  compass — which  is  a  bible.  Look  at 
it  every  day,  and  always  sail  by  it,  as  its  needle  points 
toward  the  star  of  Bethehem.  Through  fog,  and  dark- 
ness, and  storm  it  works  faithfully.  Search  the  script- 
ures.   ^^Box  the  compass.'' 

Let  me  give  you  two  or  three  rules  for  the  voyage. 
Allow  your  appetites  and  passions  only  an  under-deck 
passage.  Do  not  allow  them  ever  to  come  up  on  the 
promenade  deck.  Mortify  your  members  which  are  up- 
on the  earth.  Never  allow  your  lower  nature  anything  - 
better  than  a  steerage  passage.  Let  watchfulness  walk 
the  decks  as  an  armed  sentinel  and  shoot  down  with 
great  promptne^^  nnything  like  a  mtuiity  of  riotous  ap* 
petitCvS, 


I^IFE'S  GREAT  VOYAGE,  25 

LOOKOUT  FOR  ICE-BERGS. 


Be  sure  to  look  out  of  the  forecastle  for  icebergs. 
There  are  cold  christians  floating  around  in  the  church. 
The  frigid-zone  professors  will  sink  you.  Stear  clear  of 
icebergs.  Keep  a  log-book  during  all  the  voyage — an 
account  of  how  many  furlongs  you  make  a  day.  The 
merchant  keeps  a  day-book  as  well  as  a  ledger.  You 
ought  to  know  every  night,  as  well  as  every  year,  how 
things  are  going.  When  the  express  train  stops  at  the 
depot  you  hear  a  hammer  sounding  on  the  wheels,  thus 
testing  the  safety  of  the  rail  train.  Bound  as  we  are 
with  more  than  express  speed  toward  a  great  eternity, 
ought  we  not  often  to  trythe  work  of  self-examination? 

KEEP  YOUR  COLORS  UP. 

Be  sure  to  keep  your  colors  up.  You  know  the  ships 
of  England,  Russia,  France  and  Spain  by  the  ensigns 
they  carry.  Sometimes  it  is  a  lion,  sometimes  an  eagle, 
sometimes  a  star,  sometimes  a  crown.  Let  it  ever  be 
known  who  you  are  and  for  what  port  you  are  bound. 
Let  Christian^  ^  be  written  on  the  very  front,  with  a 
figure  of  a  cross,  a  crown,  and  a  dove,  and  from  the 
masthead  let  float  the  streamers  of  Immanuel.  Then 
the  pirate  vessels  of  temptation  will  pass  you  by  un- 
harmed as  they  say:  *^There  goes  a  Christian,  bound 
for  the  port  of  heaven.  We  will  not  disturb  her,  for  she 
has  too  many  guns  aboard. 

Run  up  your  flag  on  this  puUy:  ''I  am  not  ashamed 
of  the  gOvSpel  of  Christ,  for  it  is  the  power  of  God  and 
the  wisdom  of  God  unto  salvation.'^  When  driven 
back  or  laboring  under  great  stress  of  weather — now 
changing  from  starboard  tack  to  larboard,  and  then 


from  larboard  to  starboard — look  above  the  topgallants 
and  your  heart  shall  beat  like  a  war-drum  as  the 
streamers  float  on  the  wind.  The  sign  of  the  cross  will 
make  you  patient  and  the  crown  will  make  you  glad. 

CHRIST  IS  THE  PILOT. 

Before  you  gain  port  you  will  smell  the  land  breezes  of 
heaven,  and  Christ  the  pilot,  will  meet  you  as  you  come 
into  the  narrows  of  death,  and  fasten  to  you,  and  say: 
'^When  thou  passest  through  the  waters  I  will  be  with 
thee;  and  through  the  rivers,  they  shall  not  overflow 
thee.''  Are  you  ready  for  such  a  voyage?  Make  up 
your  minds.  The  gang-planks  are  lifting.  The  bell 
rings.  All  aboard  for  heaven!  This  world  is  not  your 
rest.  The  chafl&nch  is  the  silliest  bird  in  all  the  earth 
for  trying  to  make  its  nest  on  the  rocking  billow.  Oh, 
how  I  wish  that  as  I  embark  for  the  Holy  land  in  the 
east,  all  to  whom  I  preach  by  tongue  or  type  would  em- 
bark for  heaven!  What  you  all  most  need  is  God,  and 
you  need  him  now.  Some  of  you  I  leave  in  trouble. 
Things  are  going  very  rough  with  you.  You  have  had 
a  hard  struggle  with  poverty,  or  sickness,  or  persecu- 
tion, or  bereavement.  Light  after  light  has  gone  out, 
and  it  is  so  dark  that  you  can  hardly  see  any  blessing 
left.  May  that  Jesus  who  comforted  the  widow  of  Nain 
and  raised  the  deceased  to  life,  with  his  gentle  hand  of 
sympathy  wipe  away  your  tears!  All  is  well. 

INCIDENTS  IN  THE  LIFE  OP  DAVID,  JOB, 
ROSSINI  AND  WATTS. 

When  David  was  fleeing  through  the  wilderness  pur- 
sued by  his  own  son  he  was  being  prepared  to  become 
the  sweet  singer  of  Israel.   The  pit  and  the  dungeon 


life's  great  voyage. 


27 


were  the  best  schools  at  which  Joseph  ever  graduated. 
The  hurricane  that  upset  the  tent  and  killed  Job's  child- 
ren prepared  the  man  of  Uz  to  write  the  magnificent 
poem  that  has  astonished  the  ages.  There  is  no  way 
to  get  the  wheat  out  of  the  straw  but  to  thrash  it.  There 
is  no  way  to  purify  the  gold  but  to  burn  it.  Look  at 
the  people  who  have  always  had  it  their  own  way. 
They  are  proud,  discontented,  useless,  and  unhappy.  If 
you  want  to  find  cheerful  folks  go  among  those  who 
have  been  purified  by  the  fire.  After  Rossini  had  ren_ 
dered  ^'William  Tell"  the  five  hundreth  time  a  company 
of  musicians  came  under  his  window  in  Paris  and  sere- 
naded him.  They  put  upon  his  brow  a  golden  crown 
of  laurel  leaves.  But  amidst  all  the  applause  and  en- 
thusiasm Rossini  turned  to  a  friend  and  said:  ''I  would 
give  all  this  brilliant  scene  for  a  few  days  of  youth  and 
love."  Contrast  the  melancholy  feeling  of  Rossini,  who 
had  everything  that  this  world  could  give  him,  to  the 
joyful  experience  of  Isaac  Watts,  whose  misfortunes 
were  innumerable,  when  he  says: 

''The  hill  of  Zion  yields 

A  thousand  sacred  sweets 
Before  we  reach  the  heavenly  fields, 

Or  walk  the  golden  streets. 

Then  let  our  songs  abound, 

And  every  tear  be  dry; 
We're  marching  through  Immanuel's  ground, 

To  fairer  worlds  on  high."  - 

It  is  prosperity  that  kills  and  trouble  that  saves. 
While  the  Israelites  were  on  the  march,  amid  great 
privations  and  hardships,  they  behaved  well.  After 
a  while  they  prayed  for  meat,  and  the  sky  darkened 
with  a  large  flock  of  quails,  and  these  quails  fell  in  great 
multitudes  all  about  them;  and  the  Israelites  ate  and 
ate  and  they  stuffed  themselves  until  they  died.   Oh  I 


28  Talmage's  sermons. 

my  friends,  it  is  not  hardship,  or  tHal,  or  starvation 
that  injures  the  soul,  but  abundant  supply.  It  is  not 
the  vulture  of  trouble  that  eats  up  the  Christian's  life; 
it  is  the  quails!  it  is  the  quails! 

ONCE  MORE  I  CONFESS  MY  FAITH. 

I  can  not  leave  you  until  once  more  I  confess  my  faith 
in  the  Savior  whom  I  have  preached.  He  is  my  all  in 
all.  I  owe  more  to  the  grace  of  God  than  most  men. 
With  this  ardent  temperament  if  I  had  gone  over-board 
I  would  have  gone  to  the  very  depths.  You  know  I  can 
do  nothing  by  halves: 

*'0h,  to  grace  how  great  a  debtor 
Daily  I'm  constrained  to  be!" 

I  think  all  will  be  well.  Do  not  be  worried  about  me. 
I  know  that  my  Redeemer  liveth,  and  if  any  fatality 
should  befall  me  I  think  I  should  go  straight.  I  have 
been  most  unworthy,  and  would  be  sorry  to  think 
that  any  one  of  my  friends  had  been  as  unworthy  a 
Christian  as  myself.  But  God  has  helped  a  great  many 
through,  and  I  hope  he  will  help. me  through.  It  is  a 
long  account  of  shortcomings,  but  if  he  is  going  to  rub 
any  of  it  out  I  think  he  will  rub  it  all  out.  And  now 
give  us  (for  I  go  not  alone)  your  benediction.  When 
you  send  letters  to  a  friend  in  a  distant  land  you  say 
via  such  a  city  or  via  such  a  steamer.  When  you  send 
your  good  wishes  to  us  send  them  via  the  throne  of 
God.  We  shall  not  travel  out  of  the  reach  of  your^ 
prayers:  j 

•'There  is  a  scene  where  spirits  blend,  f 
Where  friend  holds  intercourse  with  friend; 
Thoui^h  sundered  far,  by  faith  we  meet 
Around  one  common  mercy  seat,'* 


life's  great  voyage. 


29 


^^GOOD-BY/' 

And  now,  may  the  blessing  of  God  come  down  upon 
your  bodies  and  upon  your  souls,  your  fathers  and 
mothers,  your  companions,  your  children  your  brothers 
and  sisters,  and  your  friends!  May  you  be  blessed  in 
your  business  and  in  your  pleasures,  in  your  joys  and 
in  your  sorrows,  in  the  house  and  by  the  way!  And 
if,  during  our  separation,  an  arrow  from  the  unseen 
world  should  strike  any  of  us,  may  it  only  hasten  on 
the  raptures  that  God  has  prepared  for  those  who  love 
him!  I  utter  not  the  word  farewell;  it  is  too  sad,  too 
formal  a  w^ord  for  me  to  speak  or  write.  But,  con- 
sidering that  I  have  your  hand  tightly  clasped  in 
mine,  I  utter  a  kind,  an  affectionate,  and  a  cheerful 
good-by! 


IN  BRINDISI. 


S  MEDITERRSNESN  VOYJIGE. 

[Delivered  in  Brindisi,  an  Italian  port,  Nov.  17,  1889.] 

''And  so  it  came  to  pass  that  they  escaped  all  safe  to  land/^ 

Acts  xxvii,  44. 

THE  APPIAN  WAY— PAUL  AS  A  "SIGNAL 
OFFICER." 

tAVING  visited  your  historical  city,  which  we 
desired  to  see  because  it  was  the  terminus  of 
^  ^  the  most  famous  road  of  the  ages,  the  Roman 
Appian  Way,  and  for  its  mighty  fortress  overshadow- 
ing a  city  which  even  Hannibal's  hosts  could  not 

(31) 


32 


talmage's  sermons. 


thunder  down,  we  must  to-morrow  morning  leave  your 
harbor,  and,  after  touching  at  Athens  and  Corinth, 
voyage  about  the  Mediterranean  to  Alexandria,  Egypt. 

I  have  .been  reading  this  morning  in  my  New  Testa- 
ment of  a  Mediterranean  voyage  in  an  Alexandrian 
ship.  It  was  this  very  month  of  November.  The  ves- 
sel was  lying  in  a  port  not  very  far  from  here.  On  board 
that  vessel  were  two  distinguished  passengers:  one, 
Josephus,  the  historian,  as  we  have  strong  reasons  to 
believe;  the  other,  a  convict,  one  Paul  by  name,  who 
was  going  to  prison  for  upsetting  things,  or,  as  they 
termed  it,  *  ^turning  the  world  upside  down.^^  This  con- 
vict had  gained  the  confidence  of  the  captain.  Indeed, 
I  think  that  Paul  knew  almost  as  much  about  the  sea 
as  did  the  captain.  He  had  been  shipwrecked  three 
times  already;  he  had  dwelt  much  of  his  life  amidst 
capstans,  andyardarms,  and  cables,  and  storms,  and  he 
knew  what  he  was  talking  about.  Seeing  the  equinoctial 
storm  was  coming,  and  perhaps  noticing  something  un- 
seaworthy  in  the  vessel,  he  advised  the  captain  to  stay 
in  the  harbor.  But  I  heard  the  captain  and  the  first 
mate  talking  together.  They  say:  ^'We  cannot  afford 
to  take  the  advice  of  this  landsman  and  he  a  minister. 
He  inay  be  able  to  preach  very  well,  but  T  don^t  believe 
he  knows  a  marlin.  ipikefrom  a  luff  tackle.  All  'aboard! 
Cast  off*!  Shift  the  helm  for  headway!  Who  fears  the 
Mediterranean?  They  had  gone  only  a  little  way  out  * 
when  a  whirlwind,  called  Euroclydon,  made  the  torn 
sail  its  turban,  shook  the  mast  as  you  would  brandish 
a  spear,  and  tossed  the  hulk  into  the  heavens.  Over- 
board with  the  cargo!  It  is  all  washed  with  saltwater 
and  worthless  now,  and  there  are  no  marine  insurance  , 
companies.  All  hands,  ahoy,  and  out  with  the  an- 
chors ! 


A  MEDITERRANEAN  VOYAGE. 


33 


AN  EXCITED  CREW. 

Great  consternation  comes  on  crew  and  passengers. 
The  sea  monsters  snort  in  the  foam,  and  the  billows 
clap  their  hands  in  glee  of  destruction.  In  the  lull  of 
the  storm  I  hear  a  chain  clank.  It  is  the  chain  of  the 
great  apostle  as  he  walks  the  deck,  or  holds  fast  to  the 
rigging  amidst  the  lurching  of  the  ship—the  spray  drip- 
ping from  his  long  beard  as  he  cries  out  to  the  crew: 
'^Now  I  exhort  you  to  be  of  good  cheer, for  there  shall  be 
no  loss  of  any  man's  life  among  you,  but  of  the  ship. 
For  there  stood  by  me  this  night  the  angel  of  God,  whose 
I  am,  and  whom  I  serve,  saying,  fear  not,  Paul,  thou 
must  be  brought  before  Caesar;  and  lo,  God  hath  given 
thee  all  them  that  sail  with  thee." 

Fourteen  days  have  passed  and  there  is  no  abatement 
of  the  storm.  It  is  midnight.  Standing  on  the  look- 
out, the  man  peers  into  the  darkness,  and,  by  a  flash  of 
lightning,  sees  the  long  white  line  of  breakers,  and 
knows  they  must  be  coming  near  to  some  country,  and 
fears  that  in  a  few  moments  the  vessel  will  be  shivered 
on  the  rocks. 

AN  AWFUL  SHIPWRE'JK. 

The  ship  flies  like  chaff*  in  the  tornado.  They  drop  the 
the  sounding  line,  and  by  the  light  of  the  lantern  they 
see  it  is  twenty  fathoms.  Speeding  along  a  little  farther, 
they  drop  the  line  again,  and  by  the  light  of  the  lantern 
the3'  see  it  is  fifteen  fathoms.  Two  hundred  and  seven- 
ty-six souls  within  a  few  feet  of  awful  shipwreck!  The 
managers  of  the  vessel,  pretending  they  want  to  look 
over  the  side  of  the  ship  and  undergird  it,  get  into  the 
small  boat,  expecting  in  it  to  escape;  but  Paul  sees 
through  the  sham,  and  he  tells  them  that  if  they  go  off 

3 


A  MEDITERRANEAN  VOYAGi:. 


35 


in  the  boat  it  will  be  the  death  of  them.  The  vessel 
strikes!  The  planks  spring!  The  timbers  crack!  The 
vessel  parts  in  the  thundering  surge!  Oh.  what  wild 
struggling  for  life!  Here  they  leap  from  plank,  to  plank. 
Here  they  go  under  as  if  they  would  never  rise,  but, 
catching  hold  of  a  timber,  come  floating  and  panting 
on  it  to  the  beach.  Here,  strong  swimmers  spread  their 
arms  through  the  waves  until  their  chins  plow  the  sand, 
and  they  rise  up  and  wring  out  their  wet  locks  on  the 
beach.  When  the  roll  of  the  ship  is  called  two  hundred 
and  seventy -six  people  answer  to  their  names.  ''And 
so,',  says  my  text,  ''it  came  to  pass  that  they  escaped 
all  safe  to  land.''   I  learn  from  this  subject. 

TEMPTERS  ARE  NOT  HELPERS. 

First,  that  those  who  get  us  into  trouble  will  not  stay 
to  help  us  out.  These  shipmen  got  Paul  out  of  Fair 
Havens  into  the  storm.;  but  as  soon  as  the  tempest 
dropped  upon  them  they  wanted  to  go  off  in  the  sm.all 
l)oat,  caring  nothing  what  became  of  Paul  and  the  pass- 
engers. Ah  me!  human  nature  is  the  same  in  all  ages. 
They  who  get  us  into  trouble  never  stop  to  help  us  out. 
They  who  tempt  that  young  man  into  a  life  of  dissipa- 
tion will  be  the  first  to  laugh  at  his  imbecility,  and  to 
drop  him  out  of  decent  society.  Gamblers  alwaysmake 
fun  of  the  losses  of  gamblers.  They  who  tempt  you  in 
to  the  contest  with  fists,  saying,  "I  will  back  you,"  will 
be  the  first  to  run.  Look  over  all  the  predicaments  of 
your  life,  and  count  the  names  of  those  who  have  got 
you  into  those  predicaments,  and  tell  me  the  name  of 
one  who  ever  helped  you  out.  They  were  glad  enough 
to-get  you  out  from  Fair  Havens,  but  when,  with  dam- 
aged rigging,  you  try  to  get  into  harbor,  did  they  hold 


36 


talmage's  sermons. 


for  you  a  plank  or  throw  you  a  rope?  Not  one.  Satan 
has  got  thousands  of  men  into  trouble,  but  he  would 
not  hide  the  goods  or  bail  out  the*  defendant.  The  spi- 
der shows  the  fly  the  way  over  the  gossamer  bridge  into 
the  cobweb;  but  it  never  shows  the  fly  the  way  out  of 
the  cobweb  over  the  gossamer  bridge.  I  think  that 
there  were  plenty  of  fast  young  men  to  help  the  prodi- 
gal spend  his  money;  but  when  he  had  wasted  his  sub- 
stance in  riotous  living,  they  let  hitn  go  to  the  swine 
pastures,  while  they  betook  themselves  to  some  other 
new  comer.  They  who  take  Paul  out  of  Fair  Havens 
will  be  of  no  help  to  him  when  he  gets  into  the  breakers 
of  Melita. 

DANGEROUS  TO  REFUSE  GOOD  ADVICE. 

I  remark  again,  as  a  lesson  learned  from  the  text,  that 
it  is  dangerous  to  refuse  the  counsel  of  competent  ad- 
visers. Paul  told  them  not  to  go  out  with  that  ship. 
They  thought  he  knew  nothing  about  it.  They  said: 
*'He  is  only  a  minister!^'  They  went,  and  the  ship  was 
destroyed.  There  are  a  great  many  people  who  now 
say  of  ministers:  * 'They  know  nothing  about  the  world. 
They  cannot  talk  to  us!''  Ah,  my  friends,  it  is  not  nec- 
essary to  have  the  Asiatic  cholera  before  you  can  give  it 
medical  treatment  in  others.  It  is  not  necessar^^  to  have 
your  own  arm  broken  before  you  can  know  how  to 
splinter  a  fracture.  And  we  who  stand  in  the  pulpit, 
and  in  the  oflSce  of  a  Christian  teacher,  know  that  there 
are  certain  styles  of  belief  and  certain  kinds  of  behavior 
that  will  lead  to  destruction  as  certainly  as  Paul  knew 
that  if  that  ship  went  out  Fair  Havens  it  would  go  to 
destruction.  ^'Rejoice,  O  yotmg  man,  in  thy  youth; 
and  let  thy  heart  cheer  thee  in  the  days  of  thy  youth; 
but  know  thou  that  for  all  these  things  God  will  bring 


38 


talmage's  sermons. 


thee  into  judgment/'  We  may  not  know  much,  but  we 
know  that. 

Young  people  refuse  the  advice  of  parents.  They  say: 
'^Father  is  over-suspicious,  and  mother  is  getting  old." 
But  those  parties  have  been  on  the  sea  of  life.  They 
know  where  the  storms  sleep,  and  during  their  voyage 
have  seen  a  thousand  battered  hulks  marking  the  place 
where  beauty  burned,  and  intellect  foundered,  and  mor- 
ality sank.  They  are  old  sailors,  having  answered 
many  a  signal  of  distress  and  endured  great  stress  of 
weather,  and  gone  scudding  under  bare  poles;  and  the 
old  folks  know  what  they  are  talking  about.  Look  at 
that  man — in  his  cheek  the  glow  of  internal  fires.  His 
eyes  flash  not  as  once  with  thought,  but  with  low  pas- 
sion. His  brain  is  a  sewer  through  which  impurity 
floats,  and  his  heart  the  trough  in  which  lusts  w-allows 
and  drinks.  Men  shudder  as  the  leper  passes,  and  par- 
ents cry,  ^'Wolf!  wolf!'*  Yet  he  once  said  the  Lord's 
Pra^^er  at  his  mother's  knee,  and  against  that  iniqui- 
tous brow  once  pressed  a  pure  mother's  lip.  But  he  re- 
fused her  counsel.  He  went  where  euroclydons  have 
their  lair.  He  foundered  on  the  sea,  while  all  hell  echoed 
at  the  roar  of  the  wreck:  Lost  Pacifies!  Lost  Pacifies! 
Yon  have,  my  friends,  had  illustrations,  in  your  own 
life,  of  how  God  delivers  his  people.  I  have  had  illus- 
trations in  my  own  life  of  the  same  truth. 

IN  A  CYCLONE  ON  THE  SEA. 

I  was  once  in  what  on  your  Mediterranean  you  call  a 
EurQclydon;  but  what  on  the  Atlantic  we  call  a  cyclone, 
but  the  same  storm.  The  steamer  Greece  of  the  Nation- 
al Line,  swung  out  into  the  River  Mersey  at  Liverpool, 
bound  for  New  York.  V/e  had  onboard  seven  htmdred, 
crew  and  passengers.   We  came:  together  strangers-^ 


A  MEDll'ERRANEAN  VOYAGE. 


39 


Italians,  Irishmen,  Englishmen,  Swedes,  Norwegians, 
Americans.  Two  flags  floated  from  the  masts— British 
and  American  ensigns.  We  had  a  new  vessel,  or  one  so 
thoroughly  remodeled  that  the  voyage  had  around  it 
all  the  uncertainties  of  a  trial  trip.  The  steamer  felt  its 
way  cautiously  out  into  the  sea.  The  pilot  was  dis- 
charged, and,  committing  ourselves  to  the  care  of  him 
who  holdeth  the  winds  in  his  fists,  we  were  fairly  start- 
ed on  our  voyage  of  three  thousand  miles.  It  was 
rough  nearly  all  the  way — the  sea  with  strong  buffeting 
disputing  our  path.  But  one  night  at  11  o'clock,  after 
the  lights  had  been  put  out,  a  cyclone — a  wind  just  made 
to  tear  ships  to  pieces — caught  us  up  in  its  clutches. 
It  came  down  so  suddenly  that  w^e  had  not  time  to 
take  in  the  sails  or  to  fasten  the  hatches.  You  may 
know  that  the  bottom  of  the  Atlantic  is  strewn  with  the 
ghastly  work  of  cyclones.    Oh!  they  are  cruel  winds. 

I  thought  that  I  had  seen  storms  on  the  sea  before; 
but  all  of  them  together  might  have  come  under  one 
wing  of  that  cyclone.  We  were  only  eight  or  nine  hun- 
dred miles  from  home,  and  in  high  expectation  of  soon 
seeing  our  friends,  for  there  was  no  one  on  board  so 
poor  as  not  to  have  a  friend.  But  it  seemed  as  if  we 
were  to  be  disappointed. 

WE  EXPECTED  TO  DIE. 

The  most  of  us  expected  then  and  there  to  die.  There 
were  none  who  made  light  of  the  peril,  save  two.  One 
was  an  Englishman,  and  he  was  drunk,  and  the  other 
was  an  American,  and  he  was  a  fool!  Oh!  wat  a  time 
it  was!  A  night  to  make  one's  hair  to  turn  white.  We 
came  out  of  the  berths  and  stood  in  the  gangway,  and 
looked  into  the  steerage,  and  sat  in  the  cabin.  While 


40 


talmage's  sermons. 


seated  tliCi  c:  Vv  c  heard  overhead  something  like  minu-fce 
guns.   It  was  tjie  bursting  of  the  sails.   We  held  on 
with  both  hands  to  keep  our  places.   Those  who  at- 
tempted to  cross  the  floor  came  back  bruised  and  gashed. 
Cups  and  glasses  were  dashed  to  fragments:   pieces  of 
the  table  getting  loose,  swung  across  the  saloon.  It 
seemed  as  if  the  hurricane  took  that  great  ship  of  thou- 
sands of  tons  and  stood  it  on  end  and  said:    *^Shall  I 
sink  it,  or  let  go  this  once?' ^   And  then  it  came  down 
with  such  force  that  the  billows  trampled  over  it,  each 
mounted  of  a  fury.    We  felt  that  everything  depended 
on  the  propelling  screw.    If  that  stopped  for  an  instant 
we  knew  the  vessel  would  fall  off  into  the  trough  of  the 
sea  and  sink,  and  so  we  prayed  that  the  screw,  which 
three  times  since  leaving  Liverpool  had  already  stopped,  | 
might  not  stop  now.    Oh!  how  anxiously  we  listened 
for  the  regular  thump  of  the  machinery,  upon  which 
our  lives  seemed  to  depend.   After  awhile  some  one 
said:    *'The  screw  is  stopped!'^   No,  its  sound  had  only  ] 
been  overpowered  by  the  uproar  of  the  tempest,  and  we  j 
breathed  easier  again  when  we  heard  the  regular  pul-  f 
sation  ofthe  overtasked  machinery  going  thump,  thump,  | 
thump. 

THE  TERRIFIED  PASSENGERS. 

There  were  about  five  hundred  and  fifty  passengers  in 
the  steerage,  and  as  the  water  rushed  in  and  touched 
the  furnaces,  and  began  violently  to  hiss,  the  poor 
creatures  in  the  steerage  imagined  that  the  boilers  were 
giving  way.  Those  passengers  writhed  in  the  water 
and  in  the  mud  some  praying,  some  crying,  all  terrified. 
They  made  a  rush  for  the  deck.  An  officer  stood  on 
deck  and  beat  them  back  with  blow  after  blow.  It  was 
necessary.   They  could  not  have  stood  an  instant  on 


A  MEDITERRANEAN  VOYAGE. 


41 


the  deck.  Oh!  how  they  begged  to  get  out  of  the  hold 
of  the  ship!  One  woman,  withachild  in  her  arms,  rush- 
ed up  and  caught  hold  of  one  the  officers  and  cried:  "Do 
let  me  out!  I  cannot  diehere!'^  Some  got  down  and 
prayed  to  the  Virgin  Mary,  sa3ang:  "Oh  blessed  mother! 
keep  us!  Have  mercy  on  us!'*  Some  stood  with  white 
lips  and  fixed  gaze,  silent  in  their  terror.  Some  wrung 
their  hands  and  cried  out:  "Oh  God!  What  shall  I  do? 
What  shall  I  do?''  The  time  came  when  the  crew  could 
no  longer  stay  on  the  deck,  and  the  cry  of  the  officers 
was:  "Below!  all  hands  below!"  Our  brave  and  sym- 
pathetic Captain  Andrews — whose  praise  I  shall  not 
cease  to  speak  while  I  live — had  been  swept  by  the 
'  hurricane  from  his  bridge,  and  had  escaped  very  nar- 
rowly with  his  life. 

WILD  CRY  OP  THE  CYCLONE. 

The  cyclone  seemed  to  stand  on  the  deck,  waving  its 
wing,  crying:  "This  ship  is  mine!  I  have  captured  it! 
Ha!   Ha!    I  will  command  it!    If  God  will  permit  I 

I  will  sink  it  here  and  now.    By  a  thousand  shipwrecks, 

I I  swear  the  doom  of  this  vessel!"  There  was  a  lull  in 
'  the  storm,  but  only  that  it  might  gain  additional  fury. 

Crash!  went  the  lifeboat  on  one  side.  Crash!  went 
the  lifeboat  on  the  other  side.  The  great  booms  got 
loose,  and,  as  with  the  heft  of  the  thunderbolt,  pounded 
the  deck  and  beat  the  mast — the  jibboom,  studdingsail 
boom,  and  square  sail  boom,  with  their  strong  arms, 
beating  time  to  the  awful  march  and  music  of  the 
hurricane. 

Meanwhile  the  ocean  became  phosphorescent.  The 
whole  scene  looked  like  fire.  The  water  dripping  from 
the  rigging,  there  were  ropes  of  fire;  and  there  were 

'4^X^  of  fir^;       th€r^  w^s  fi,  deck  of  fir^i  A  ship  of 


42  talmage's  sermons. 

fire,  sailing  on  a  sea  of  fire,  through  a  night  of  fire. 
May  I  never  see  anything  like  it  again!  Everybody 
prayed.  A  lad  of  twelve  years  of  age  got  down  and 
prayed  for  his  mother.  "If  I  should  give  up,''  he  said, 
"I  do  not  know  what  would  become  of  mother. 
There  were  men  also,  I  think  had  not  prayed  for 
thirty  years,  who  then  got  down  on  their  knees.  When 
a  man  who  has  neglected  God  all  his  life  feels  that,  he 
has  come  to  his  last  time,  it  makes  a  very  busy  night. 
All  of  our  sins  and  shortcomings  passed  through  our 
minds. 

MY  DYING  PRAYER. 

My  own  life  seemed  utterly  unsatisfactory.  I  could 
only  say,  "Here,  Lord,  take  me  as  I  am.  I  cannot 
mend  matters  now.  Lord  Jesus,  thou  didst  die  for  the 
chief  of  sinners.  That's  me!  It  seems.  Lord,  as  if  my 
work  is  done,  and  poorly  done,  and  upon  thy  infinite 
mercy  I  cast  myself,  and  in  this  hour  of  shipwreck  and 
darkness  commit  myself  and  her  whom  I  hold  by  the 
hand  to  thee,  O  Lord  Jesus!  praying  that  it  may  be  a 
short  struggle  in  the  water,  and  that  at  the  same  in- 
stant we  may  both  arrive  in  glory!"  Oh!  I  tell  you 
a  man  prays  straight  to  the  mark  when  he  has  a  cy- 
clone above  him,  an  ocean  beneath  him,  and  eternity 
so  close  to  him  that  he  can  feel  its  breath  on  his  cheek. 

The  night  was  long.  At  last  we  saw  the  dawn,  look- 
ing through  the  portholes.  As  in  the  olden  time,  in 
the  fourth  watch  of  the  night,  Jesus  came  walking  on 
the  sea,  from  wave  cliff  to  wave  cliff;  and  when  he  puts 
his  foot  upon  a  billow,  though  it  may  be  tossed  up 
with  might,  it  goes  down.  He  cried  to  the  winds, 
Hush!  Thev  knew  his  voice.  The  waves  knew  his 
loot.  They"  died  away.   And  in  the  shining  track  of 


A  MEDITERRANEAN  VOYAGE. 


43 


kis  feet  I  read  these  letters  on  scrolls  of  foam  a^  fire, 
*'The  earth  shall  be  filled  with  the  knowledge  of  Lvod  as^ 
the  waters  cover  the  sea/' 

THE  BEAUTIFUL  MORNING. 

The  ocean  calmed.  The  path  of  the  steamer  h  ii^came 
mom  and  more  mild;  until,  on  the  last  momin  ,g  out, 
the  sun  threw  around  about  us  a  glory  such  as  L  never 
witnessed  before.  God  made  a  pavement  of  mosaic, 
reaching  from  horizon  to  horizon,  for  all  the  splenclors 
of  earth  and  heaven  to  walk  upon — a  pavem  ent 
bright  enough  for  the  foot  of  a  seraph — bright  enoi  agh 
for  the  wheels  of  the  archangel's  chariot.  As  a  paj  ent 
embraces  a  child,  and  kisses  away  its  grief,  so  overt  hat 
sea  that  had  been  writhing  in  agony  in  the  tempest,  the 
morning  threw  its  arms  of  beauty  and  of  benedict  ion, 
and  the  lips  of  earth  and  heaven  met. 

As  I  came  on  deck — it  was  very  early,  and  we '  were 
nearing  the  shore  — I  saw  a  few  sails  against  the  sky. 
They  seemed  like  the  spirits  of  the  night  ^-alking  the 
billows.  I  leaned  over  the  taffrail  of  the  vessel,  and 
said,  ''Thy  way,  O  God,  is  in  the  sea,  and  thy  pat  h  in 
the  great  waters.'' 

It  grew  lighter.  The  clouds  were  hung  in  pu  rple 
clusters  along  the  sky;  and,  as  if  those  purple  clus  ters 
were  pressed  into  red  wine  and  poured  out  upon  the 
sea,  every  wave  turned  into  crimson.  Yonder,  fire  «  :left 
stood  opposit  to  fire  cleft;  and  here,  a  cloud,  rent  and 
tinged  with  light,  seemed  like  a  palace,  with  fla  mes 
bursting  from  the  windows.  The  whole  scene  ligl  ited 
up  until  it  seemed  as  if  the  angels  of  God  wereascen<  ling 
and  descending  upon  stairs  of  fire,  and  the  wavecr<  ^sts, 
changed  into  jasper,and  crystal,  and  amethyst,  as  *  they 


A  MEDITERRANEAN  VOYAGE. 


45 


were  flung  toward  the  beach,  made  me  think  of  the 
crowns  of  heaven  cast  before  the  throne  of  the  great 
Jehovah.  I  leaned  over  the  tafFrail  again  and  said, 
with  more  emotion  than  before:  ^'Thy  way,  O  God,  is 
in  the  sea,  and  thy  path  in  the  great  waters!', 

THE  GLORIFIED  SHORE. 

So,  I  thought,  will  be  the  going  off  of  the  storm  and 
night  of  the  Christian's  night.  The  darkness  will  fold 
its  tents  and  away!  The  golden  feet  of  the  rising  mom 
will  come  skipping  upon  the  mountains,  and  all  the 
wrathful  billows  of  the  world's  woe  break  into  the 
splendor  of  eternal  jojr.  And  so  we  come  into  the  harb- 
or. The  cyclone  behind  us.  Our  friends  all  before  us. 
God,  who  is  always  good,  all  around  us.  And  if  the 
roll  of  the  crew  and  the  passengers  had  been  called, 
seven  hundred  souls  would  have  answered  to  their 
names.  ''And  so  it  came  to  pass  that  we  all  escaped 
safe  to  land." 

And  may  God  grant  that,  when  all  our  Sabbaths  on 
earth  are  ended,  we  may  find  that,  in  the  rich  mercy  of 
our  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  we  all  have  weathered  the  gale!" 

Into  the  harbor  of  heaven  now  we  glide, 

Home  at  last! 
Softly  we  drift  on  the  bright  silver  tide, 

Home  at  last! 
Glory  to  God!  All  our  dangers  are  o'er; 
We  stand  secure  on  the  glorified  shore. 
Glory  to  God!  We  will  shout  evermore, 

Home  at  last! 

Home  at  last! 


En  Route. 


IN  ATHENS. 


THE  CLOUDED  vision; 

[Delivered  in  Athens,  Greece,  November  24,  1889.] 

^^Eye  hath  not  seen,  nor  ear  heard^   I  Cor.,  il,  9, 
*^For  now  we  see  through  a  glass  darkly.^'   I  Cor.,  xiii,  12. 

THE  ILLUSTRIOUS  PAUL. 

OTH  these  sentences  were  written  by  the  mOst  illus- 
trious merely  human  being  the  world  ever  saw, 
one  who  walked  these  streets,  and  preached 
from  yonder  pile  of  rocks.  Mars  Hill.  Though  more 
classic  associations  are  connected  with  this  city 
than  with  any  city  under  the  sun,  because  here 
Socrates,  and  Plato,  and  Aristotle,  and  Demosthenes, 
and  Pericles,  and  Heroditus,  and  Pythagoras, 
and  Xenophon,  and  Praxiteles  wrote  or  chiseled, 
or  taught  or  thundered  or  sung,  yet  in  my  mind 
all  those  men  and  their  teachings  Avere  eclipsed  by 
Paul  and  the  Gospel  he  preached  in  this  city  and  in  your 

(47) 


48 


talmage's  sermons. 


nearby  city  of  Corinth.  Yesterday,  standing  on  the  old 
fortress  at  Corinth,  the  Acro-Corinthus,  out  from  the 
ruins  at  is  base  arose  in  my  imagination  the  old  city, 
just  as  Paul  saw  it. 

THE  SPLENDOR  OF  ANCIENT  CORINTH. 

I  have  been  told  that,  for  splendor  the  world  beholds 
no  such  wonder  today  as  that  ancient  Corinth  standing 
on  an  isthmus  washed  by  two  seas,  the  one  sea  bring- 
ing the  commerce  of  Europe,  the  other  sea  bringing  the 
commerce  of  Asia.  From  her  wharves,  in  the  construc- 
tion of  which  whole  kingdoms  had  been  absorbed,  war 
galleys  with  three  banks  of  oars  pushed  out  and  con- 
founded the  navy  yards  of  all  the  world.  Huge  handed 
machinery,  such  as  modern  invention  cannot  equal,  lift- 
ed ships  from  the  sea  on  one  side  and  transported  them 
on  trucks  across  the  isthmus  and  sat  them  down  in  the 
sea  on  the  other  side.  The  revenue  officers  of  the  city 
went  down  through  the  olive  groves  that  lined  the 
beach  to  collect  a  tariff  from  all  nations.  The  mirth  of 
all  people  sported  in  her  Isthmain  games,  and  the  beauty 
of  all  lands  sat  in  her  theatres,  walked  her  porticos  and 
threw  itself  on  the  altar  of  her  stupendous  dissipations. 
Column,  and  statue,  and  temple  bewildered  the  behold- 
er. There  were  white  marble  fountains,  into  which, 
from  apertures  at  the  side,  there  gushed  waters  every- 
where known  for  health  giving  qualities.  Around  these 
basins,  twisted  into  wreaths  of  stone,  there  were  all  the 
beauties  of  sculpture  and  architecture;  while  standing, 
as  if  to  guard  the  costly  display,  was  a  statue  of  Her- 
cules of  burnished  Corinthian  brass.  Vases  of  terra 
cotta  adorned  the  cemeteries  of  the  dead — vases  so 
(  ostly  that  Julius  Caesar  was  not  satisfied  until  he  had 
capttir^d  tjieni  for  Rome  Arme(3|  official^i  the  cori^th- 


THE  CLOUDED  VISION. 


49 


ian,  paced  Up  and  down  to  see  that  no  statue  was  de- 
faced, or  pedestal  overthrown,  no  bas-reUef  touched. 
From  the  edge  of  the  city  the  hill  held  its  magnificent 
burden  of  columns  and  to  wers  and  temples  (l,000slaves 
waiting  at  one  shrine),  and  a  citadel  so  thoroughly  im- 
pregnable that  Gibraltar  is  a  heap  of  sand  compared 
with  it.  Amid  all  that  strength  and  magnificence  Co- 
rinth stood  and  defied  the  world. 

PAUL  ADDRESSED  THE  HIGHEST  CULTURE. 

Oh!  it  was  not  to  rustics  who  had  never  seen  anything 
grand  that  Paul  uttered  one  of  my  texts.  They  had 
heard  the  best  music  that  had  come  from  the  best  in- 
struments in  all  the  world;  they  had  heard  songs  float- 
ing from  morning  porticos  and  melting  in  evening 
groves;  they  had  past  their  whole  lives  among  pictures 
and  sculpture  and  architecture  and  Corinthian  brass, 
which  had  been  molded  and  shaped  until  there  was  no 
.chariot  wheel  in  which  it  had  not  sped,  and  no  tower  in 
which  it  had  not  glittereu,  and  no  gateway  that  it  had 
not  adorned.  Ah,  it  was  a  bold  thing  for  Paul  to  stand 
there  amid  all  that  and  say:  ^^AU  this  is  nothing.  These 
sounds  that  come  from  the  temple  of  Neptune  are  not 
music  compared  with  the  harmonies  of  which  I  speak. 
These  waters  rushing  in  the  basin  of  Pyrene  are  not 
pure.  These  statues  of  Bacchus  and  Mercury  are  not  ex- 
quisite. Your  citadel  of  Acro-Corinthus  is  not  strong 
compared  with  that  which  I  offer  to  the  poorest  slave 
that  puts  down  his  burden  at  that  brazen  gate. 
You  Corinthians  think  this  is  a  splendid  city;  you  think 
you  have  heard  all  sweet  sounds  and  seen  all  beautiful 
sights;  but  I  tell  you  eye  hath  not  seen  nor  ear  heard, 
neither  have  entered  into  the  heart  of  man,  the  things 
which  God  Imth  prepared  for  them  that  loy^  Wm. 


50 


talmage's  sermons. 


deed  both  my  texts,  the  one  spoken  by  Paul  and  the  one 
written  by  Paul,  show  us  that  we  have  very  imperfect 
eyesight,  and  that  our  day  of  vision  is  yet  to  come:  for 
now  we  see  through  a  glass,  darkly,  but  then  face  to 
face.  So  Paul  takes  the  responsibility  of  saying  that 
even  the  Bible  is  an  indistinct  mirror,  and  that  its  mis-  * 
sion  shall  be  finally  suspended. 

I  think  there  may  be  one  Bible  in  heaven  fastened  to 
the  throne.  Just  as  now,  in  a  museum,  we  have  a  lamp 
exhumed  from  Herculaneum  or  Nineveh,  and  we  look 
at  it  with  great  interest  and  say:  ''How  poor  a  light 
it  must  have  given,  compared  with  our  modern  lamps, 
so  I  think  that  this  Bible,  which  was  a  lamp  to  our  feet 
in  this  world,  may  lie  near  the  throne  of  God,  exciting 
our  interest  to  all  eternity  by  the  contrast  between  its 
comparatively  feeble  light  and  the  illumination  of  heav- 
en. The  Bible,  now,  is  the  scaffolding  to  the  rising 
temple,  but  when  the  building  is  done  there  will  be  no 
use  for  the  scaffolding. 

OUR  DIM  VISION  WILL  GROW  BRIGHTER. 

The  idea  I  shall  develope  today  is,  that  in  this  world 
our  knowledge  is  comparatively  dim  and  unsatisfac- 
tory, but  nevertheless  is  introductory  to  grander  and 
more  complete  vision. 

THIS  IS  TRUE  OF  OUR  KNOWLEDGE  OF  GOD. 

This  is  eminently  true  in  regard  to  our  view  of  God. 
We  hear  so  much  about  God  that  we  conclude  that  we 
understand  him.  He  is  represented  as  having  the  tend- 
erness of  a  father,  the  firmness  of  a  judge,  the  pomp  of 
a  king  and  the  love  of  a  mother.  We  hear  about  him, 
talk  about  him,  write  about  him.  We  lisp  his  name  in 
infancy,  and  it  trembles  on  the  tongue  of  the  dying 


THE  CLOUDED  YlSiOX 


51 


octogenarian.  We  think  that  we  know  very  much 
about  him.  Take  the  attribute  of  mercy.  Do  we  un- 
derstand it?  The  Bible  blossoms  all  over  with  that 
word,  mercy.  It  speaks  again  and  again  of  the  tender 
mercies  of  God,  of  the  sure  mercies,  of  the  great  mercies, 
of  the  mercies  that  endureth  for  ever,  of  the  multitude 
of  his  mercies.  And  yet  I  know  that  the  views  we  have 
of  this  great  being  are  most  indefinite,  one  sided  and 
incomplete.  When,  at  death,  the  gates  shall  fly  open, 
and  we  shall  look  directly  npon  him,  how  new  and  sur- 
prising. 

We  see  upon  canvas  a  picture  of  the  morning.  We 
study  the  cloud  in  the  sky,  the  dew  upon  the  grass,  and 
the  husbandman-  on  the  way  to  the  field.  Beautifiil 
picture  of  the  morning!  But  we  arise  at  daybreak,  and 
go  up  on  a  hill  to  see  for  ourselves  that  which  was  rep- 
resented to  us.  While  we  look,  the  mountains  are 
transfigured.  The  burnished  gates  of  heaven  swing 
open  and  shut,  to  let  pass  a  host  of  fiery  splendors.  The 
clouds  are  abloom,  and  hang  pendant  from  arbors  of 
alabaster  and  amethyst.  The  waters  make  pathway 
of  inlaid  pearl  for  the  light  to  walk  upon;  and  there  is 
morning  on  the  sea.  The  crags  uncover  their  scarred 
visage;  and  there  is  morning  among  the  mountains. 
Now  you  go  home,  and  how  tame  your  picture  of  the 
morning  seems  in  contrast?  Greater  than  that  shall  be 
the  contrast  between  this  scriptural  view  of  God  and 
that  which  we  shall  have  when  standing  face  to  face. 
This  is  a  picture  of  the  morning;  that  will  be  the  morn- 
ing itself. 

AND  TRUE  OF  THE  SAVIOUR'S  EXCELLENCY. 

Again:  My  texts  are  true  of  the  Saviour's  excellency. 
By  image,  and  sweet  rhythm  of  expression,  and  start- 


52 


'TALMAGE^S  SERMONS. 


ling  antitheses,  Christ  is  set  forth— his  love,  his  compas- 
sion, his  work,  his  life,  his  death,  his  resurrection.  We 
are  challenged  to  measure  it,  to  compute  it,  to  weigh  it. 
In  the  hour  of  our  broken  enthrallment,  we  mount  up 
into  high  experience  of  his  love,  and  shout  until  the 
countenance  glows,  and  the  blood  bounds,  and  the 
whole  nature  is  exhilarated.  have  found  him.''  And 
yet  it  is  through  a  glass,  darkly.  We  see  not  half  of 
that  compassionate  face.  We  feel  not  half  the  warmth 
of  that  loving  heart.  We  wait  for  death  to  let  us  rush 
into  his  outspread  arms.  Then  we  shall  be  face  to  face. 
Not  shadow  then,  but  substance.  Not  hope  then,  but 
the  fulfilling  of  all  prefigurement.  That  will  be  a  mag- 
nificent unfolding. 

The  rushing  out  in  view  of  all  hidden  excellency;  the 
coming  again  of  a  long-absent  Jesus  to  meet  us — not  in 
rags  and  in  penury  and  death,  but  amidst  a  light  and 
pomp  and  outburs ting  joy  such  as  none  but  a  glorified 
intelligence  could  experience.  Oh!  to  gaze  full  upon  the 
brow  that  was  lacerated,  upon  the  side  that  was  pierced, 
upon  the  feet  that  were  nailed;  to  stand  close  up  in  the 
presence  of  him  who  prayed  for  us  on  the  mountain, 
and  thought  of  us  by  sea,  and  agonized  for  ns  in  the 
garden,  and  died  for  us  in  horrible  crucifixion;  to  feel 
of  him,  to  embrace  him,  to  take  his  hand,  to  kiss  his 
feet,  to  run  our  fingers  along  the  scars  of  ancient  suffer- 
ing; to  say:  ''This  is  my  Jesus!  He  gave  himself  for  me. 
I  shall  forever  behold  his  glory.  I  shall  eternally  hear 
his  voice.  Lord  Jesus,  now  I  see  thee.  I  behold  where 
the  blood  started,  where  the  tears  coursed,  where  the 
face  was  distorted .  I  have  waited  for  this  hour.  I  shall 
never  turn  my  back  on  thee.  No  more  looking  through 
imperfect  glasses.  No  more  studying  thee  in  the  darkness. 
But,  as  long  as  this  throne  stands,  and  this  everlasting 


54 


talmage's  sermons. 


river  fic  ws,  and  those  gariands  bloom,  and  these  afehes 
of  victory  remain  to  greet  home  hcaven^s  conquerors, 
so  long  I  shall  see  thee,  Jesus  of  my  choice;  Jesus  of  my 
song;  Jesus  of  my  triumph — forever  and  forever — face 
toface!^' 

GOD'S  PROVIDENCES  NOT  UNDERSTOOD  FULLY 
NOW,  BUT  WILL  BE  HEREAFTER. 

The  idea  of  my  texts  is  just  as  true  when  applied  to 
God's  providence.  Who  has  not  come  to  some  pass  in 
life  thoroughly  inexplicable?  You  say:  **What  does  this 
mean?  What  is  God  going  to  do  with  me  now?  He  tells 
me  that  all  things  work  together  for  good.  This -does 
not  look  like  it.' '  You  continue  to  study  the  dispensa- 
tion, and  after  a  while  guess  about  what  God  means. 
*^He  means  to  teach  me  this.  I  think  he  means  to  teach 
me  that.  Perhaps  it  is  to  humble  my  pride.  Perhaps 
it  is  to  make  me  feel  more  dependent.  Perhaps  to  teach 
me  the  uncertainty  of  life."  But  after  all,  it  is  only  a 
guess — a  looking  through  the  glass,  darkly.  The  Bible 
assures  us  there  shall  be  a  satisfactory  unfolding. 
*'What  I  do  thou  kno west  not  now;  but  thou  shalt  know 
hereafter."  You  will  know  why  God  took  to  himself 
that  only  child.  Next  door  there  was  a  household  of 
seven  children.  Why  not  take  one  from  that  group,  in- 
stead of  your  only  one?  Why  single  out  the  dwelling 
in  which  there  was  only  one  heart  beating  responsive 
to  yours?  Why  did  God  give  you  a  child  at  all,  if  he 
meant  to  take  it  away?  Why  fill  the  cup  of  your  glad- 
ness brimming,  if  he  meant  to  dash  it  down?  Why  al- 
low all  the  tendrils  of  your  heart  to  wind  around  that 
object,  and  then,  when  every  fiber  of  your  own  life 
seemed  to  be  interlocked  with  the  child's  life,  with  strong 
hand  to  tear  you  apart,  until  you  fall  bleeding  and 


THE  CLOUDED  VISION. 


55 


crushed,  your  dwelling  desolate,  your  hopes  blasted, 
your  heart  broken?  Do  you  suppose  that  God  will  ex- 
plain that?  Yea.  He  will  make  it  plainer  than  any 
mathematical  problem — as  plain  as  that  two  and  two 
make  four.  In  the  light  of  the  throne  you  will  see  that 
it  was  right— all  right .  '  'Just  and  true  are  all  thy  ways , 
thou  King  of  saints.^' 

PROVIDENTIAL  HINDRANCES  IN  LIFE. 

Here  is  a  man  who  cannot  get  on  in  the  world.  He 
always  seems  to  buy  at  the  wrong  time  and  to  sell  at 
the  worst  disadvantage.  He  tries  this  enterprise,  and 
fails;  that  business,  and  is  disappointed.  The  man 
next  door  to  him  has  a  lucrative  trade,  but  he  lacks 
customers.  A  new  prospect  opens.  His  income  is  in- 
creased. But  that  year  his  family  are  sick;  and  the 
profits  are  expended  in  trying  to  cure  the  ailments.  He 
gets  a  discouraged  look.  Becomes  faithless  as  to  suc- 
cess. Begins  to  expect  disasters.  Others  wait  for  some- 
thing to  turn  up;  he  waits  for  it  to  turndown.  Others, 
with  only  half  as  much  education  and  character,  get 
on  twice  as  well.  He  sometimes  guesses  as  to  what  it 
all  means.  He  says:  'Terhaps  riches  would  spoil  me. 
Perhaps  poverty  is  necessary  to  keep  me  humble.  Per- 
haps I  might,  if  things  were  otherwise,  be  tempted  into 
dissipations.*'  But  there  is  no  complete  solution  of  the 
mystery.  He  sees  through  a  glass,  darkly,  and  must 
wait  for  a  higher  unfolding.  Will  there  be  an  explana- 
tion? Yes;  God  will  take  that  man  in  the  light  of  the 
throne,  and  say:  *'Child  immortal,  hear  the  explana- 
tion! You  remember  the  failing  of  that  great  enterprise . 
This  is  the  explanation/'  And  you  will  answer:  *Mt 
is  all  right!'' 


56 


talmage's  sermons. 


I  see,  every  day,  profound  mysteries  of  Providence. 
There  is  no  question  we  ask  oftener  than  Why?  There 
are  hundreds  of  graves  that  need  to  be  explained. 
Hospitals  for  the  blind  and  lame,  asylums  for  the  idiotic 
and  insane,  almshouses  for  the  destitute,  and  a  world 
of  pain  and  misfortune  that  demand  more  than  human 
solution.  Ah!  God  will  clear  it  all  up.  In  the  light 
that  pours  from  the  throne,  no  dark  mystery  can  live. 

Things  now  utterly  inscrutable  will  be  illumined  as 
plainly  as  if  the  answer  were  written  on  the  jasper  wall, 
or  sounded  in  the  temple  anthem.  Bartimeus  will 
thank  God  that  he  was  blind;  and  Lazarus  that  he  was 
covered  with  sores;  and  Joseph  that  he  was  cast  into 
the  pit;  and  Daniel  that  he  denned  with  lions;  and 
Paul  that  he  was  humpbacked;  and  David  that  he  was 
driven  from  Jerusalem;  and  the  sewing-woman  that 
she  could  only  get  a  few  pence  for  making  a  garment; 
and  that  invalid  that  for  twenty  years  he  could  not 
lift  his  head  from  the  pillow;  and  that  widow  that  she 
had  such  hard  work  to  earn  bread  for  her  children. 
You  know  that  in  a  song  different  voices  carry  different 
parts.  The  sweet  and  overwhelming  part  of  the  hal- 
lelujah of  heaven  will  not  be  carried  by  those  who  rode 
in  high  places,  and  gave  sumptuous  entertainments; 
^but  pauper  children  will  sing  it,  beggars  will  sing  it, 
!  redeemed  hod-carriers  will  sing  it,  those  who  w^ere 
,  once  the  ofifscouring  of  earth  will  sing  it.  The  hal- 
|Jelujah  will  be  all  the  grander  for  the  earth's  weeping 
I  eyes,  and  aching  heads,  and  exhausted  hands,  and 
scourged  back,  and  martyred  agonies. 

HOW  MANY  SHALL  BE  SAVED? 
^  Again:   The  thought  of  my  texts  is  true  when  applied 
to  tl^e  enjoyment  of  the  righteous  in  heaven,  I  think 
havt^  but  Uttk  id^aofth^  wmlKr  of  ngfet<?QU$i 


THE  CLOUDED  VISION. 


57 


in  heaveti.  Infidels  say:  ''Your  heaven  will  be  a  very 
small  place  compared  with  the  world  of  the  lost;  for, 
according  to  your  teaching,  the  majority  of  men  will  be 
destroyed.''  I  deny  the  charge.  I  suppose  that  the 
multitude  of  the  finally  lost,  as  compared  with  the 
multitude  of  the  finally  saved,  will  be  a  hand  full.  I 
suppose  that  the  few  sick  people  in  the  hospitals  of  our 
great  cities,  as  compared  with  the  hundreds  of  thou- 
sands of  well  people,  would  not  be  smaller  than  the 
number  of  those  who  shall  be  cast  out  in  suffering, 
compared  with  those  who  shall  have  upon  them  the 
health  of  heaven.  For  we  are  to  remember  that  we  are 
living  in  only  the  beginning  of  the  Christian  dispensa- 
tion, and  that  this  whole  world  is  to  be  populated  and 
redeemed,  and  that  ages  of  light  and  love  are  to  flow 
on.  If  this  be  so,  the  multitudes  of  the  saved  will  be  in 
vast  majority.  Take  all  the  congregations  that  have 
assembled  for  worship  throughout  Christendom.  Put 
them  together,  and  they  would  make  but  a  small  audi- 
ence compared  with  the  thousands  and  tens  of  thou- 
sands, and  ten  thousand  times  ten  thousands,  and  the 
hundred  and  forty  and  four  thousand  that  shall  stand 
around  the  throne.  Those  flashed  up  to  heaven  in 
martyr  fires;  those  tossed  for  many  years  upon  the 
invalid  couch;  those  fought  in  the  armies  of  liberty 
and  rose  as  they  fell;  those  tumbled  from  high  scaffold- 
ing or  slipped  from  the  mast,  or  were  washed  off  into 
the  sea.  They  came  up  from  Corinth,  from  Laodicea, 
from  the  Red  Sea  bank  and  Gennesaret's  wave,  from 
Egyptian  brick-  yards,  and  Gideon's  threshing  floor. 
Those  thousands  of  years  ago  slept  the  last  sleep,  and 
these  are  this  moment  having  their  eyes  closed,  and 
their  limbs  stretched  out  for  the  sepulcher. 
A  general,  expecting  an  attack  from  the  enem3^  stands 


68 


t^aLMace's  sermons. 


on  a  hill  and  looks  through  a  field  glass,  and  sees,  in  the 
great  distance,  nitdtitudes  approaching,  but  has  no  idea 
of  their  numbers.  He  says:  cannot  tell  anything 
about  them.  I  merely  know  that  there  are  a  great 
number.''  And  so  John,  without  attempting  to  count, 
says:  * 'A  great  multitude  that  no  man  can  number.'' 
We  are  told  that  heaven  is  a  place  of  happiness  but 
what  do  we  know  about  happiness?  Happiness  in  this 
world  is  only  a  half  fledged  thing,  flowery  path,  with 
a  serpent  hissing  across  it;  a  broken  pitcher,  from  which 
the  water  has  dropped  before  we  could  drink  it;  a  thrill 
of  exhilaration,  followed  by  disastrous  reactions.  To 
help  us  understand  the  joy  of  heaven,  the  Bible  takes 
us  to  a  river.  We  stand  on  the  grassy  bank.  We  see 
the  waters  flow  on  with  ceaseless  wave.  But  the  filth 
of  the  cities  is  emptied  into  it,  and  the  banks  are  torn,, 
and  unhealthy  exhalations  spring  up  from  it,  and  we 
fail  to  get  an  idea  of  the  river  of  life  in  heaven. 

A  GLORIOUS  AND  EVERLASTING  REUNION. 

We  get  very  imperfect  ideas  of  the  reunions  of  heaven. 
We  think  of  some  festal  day  on  earth,  when  father  and 
mother  were  yet  living,  and  the  children  come  home. 
A  good  time  that!  But  it  had  this  drawback — all  were 
not  there.  That  brother  went  off*  to  sea,  and  never  was; 
heard  from.  That  sister — did  we  not  lay  her  away  ini 
the  freshness  of  her  young  life,  never  more  in  this  world 
to  look  upon  her?  Ah!  there  was  a  skeleton  at  the  feast: 
and  tears  mingled  with  our  laughter  on  that  Christmas 
day.  Not  so  with  heaven's  reunions.  It  will  be  an  un- 
interrupted gladness.  Many  a  Christian  parent  will 
look  around  and  find  all  his  children  there.  ''Ah!"  he 
says,  ''can  it  be  possible  that  we  are  all  here,  life's  perils 
over?   The  Jordan  passed  and  not  one  wanting?  Why, 


THE  CLOUDED  VISION. 


59 


even  the  prodigal  is  here.  I  almost  gave  him  up.  How 
long  he  despised  my  counsels!  but  grace  hath  triumphed. 
All  here!  all  here!  Tell  the  mighty  joy  through  the  city. 
Let  the  bells  ring,  and  the  angels  mention  it  in  their 
song.    Wave  it  from  the  top  of  the  walls.   All  here!'^ 

No  more  breaking  of  heart  strings,  but  face  to  face. 
The  orphans  that  were  left  poor,  and  in  a  merciless 
\vorld,  kicked  and  cuffed  of  many  hardships,  shall  join 
their  parents  over  whose  graves  they  so  long  wept,  and 
gaze  into  their  glorified  countenances  forever,  face  to 
face.  We  may  come  up  from  different  parts  of  the  world, 
one  from  the  land  and  another  from  the  depths  of  the 
sea;  from  lives  affluent  and  prosperous,  or  from  scenes 
of  ragged  distress;  but  we  shall  all  meet  in  rapture  and 
jubilee,  face  to  face. 

Many  of  our  friends  have  entered  on  that  joy.  A  few 
days  ago  they  sat  with  us  study ing  these  gospel  themes; 
but  they  only  saw  dimly — now  revelation  hath  come. 
Your  time  will  also  come.  God  will  not  leave  you 
floundering  in  the  darkness.  You  stand  wonder  struck 
and  amazed.  You  feel  as  if  all  the  loveliness  of  life  were 
dashed  out.  You  stand  gazing  into  the  open  chasm  of 
the  grave.  Wait  a  little.  In  the  presence  of  your  de- 
parted and  of  him  who  carries  them  in  his  bosom,  you 
shall  soon  stand  face  to  face.  Oh!  that  our  last  horr 
may  kindle  up  with  this  promised  joy!  May  we  be  able 
to  say,  like  the  Christian  not  long  ago,  departing: 
''Though  a  pilgrim  walking  through  the  valley,  the 
mountain  tops  are  gleaming  from  peak  to  peak!''  or, 
like  my  dear  friend  and  brother,  Alfred  Cookman,  who 
took  his  flight  to  the  throne  of  God,  saying  in  his  last 
moment  that  which  has  already  gone  into  Christian 
(Classics:  ^'I  am  sweeping  through  the  pearly  gate, 
washed  in  the  blood  of  the  Lamb!'' 


IN  JOPPA. 


THE  BELOVED  D0RCS8. 

[Delivered  in  Joppa,  Palestine,  December  1st,  1889.] 

'^And  all  the  widows  stood  by  him  weeping,  and  showing  the  coats 
and  garments  which  Dorcas  made  while  she  was  with  them.'' 

Acts  ix,  39, 

DORCAS,  JUDAS  MACCABAEUS  AND  NAPOLEON. 

HRISTIANS  of  Joppa!  Impressed  as  I  am  with 
your  mosque,  the  first  I  ever  saw,  and  stirred  as 
I  am  with  the  fact  that  your  harbor  once  floated 
the  great  rafts  of  Lebanon  cedar  from  which  the  temple 
at  Jerusalem  was  builded,  Solomon^s  oxen  drawing  the 
logs  through  this  very  town  on  the  way  to  Jerusalem, 
nothing  can  make  me  forget  that  this  Joppa  was  the 
birthplace  of  the  sewing  society  that  has  blessed  the 
poor  of  all  succeeding  ages  in  all  lands.    The  disasters  to 

(61) 


62 


talmage's  sermons. 


your  town  when  Judas  Maccab^eus  set  it  on  fire  and 
Napoleon  had  500  prisoners  massacred  in  your  neighbor- 
hood can  not  make  me  forget  that  one  of  the  most  mag- 
nificent charities  of  the  centuries  was  started  in  this  sea- 
port by  Dorcas,  a  woman  with  her  needle  embroidering 
her  name  ineffaceably  into  the  beneficence  of  the  world. 

DORCAS  HAS  BEEN  HERE—AN  ELOQUENT 
TRIBUTE. 

I  see  her  sitting  in  yonder  home.  In  the  doorway, 
and  around  about  the  building,  and  in  the  room  where 
she  sits  are  the  pale  faces  of  the  poor.  She  listens  to 
their  plaint,  she  pities  their  woe,  she  makes  garments 
for  them,  she  adjusts  the  manufactured  articles  to  suit 
the  bent  form  of  this  invalid  woman  and  to  the  cripple 
that  comes  crawling  on  his  hands  and  knees.  She  gives 
a  coat  to  this  one,  she  gives  sandals  to  that  one.  With 
the  gifts  she  mingles  prayers  and  tears  and  Christian  en- 
couragement. Then  she  goes  out  to  be  greeted  on  the 
street  comers  by  those  whom  she  blessed  and  all  through 
the  street  the  cry  is  heard:  ^^Dorcas  is  coming!^'  The 
sick  look  up  gratefully  in  her  face  as  she  puts  her  hand 
on  the  burning  brow,  and  the  lost  and  the  abandoned 
start  up  with  hope  as  they  hear  her  gentle  voice,  as 
though  an  angel  had  addressed  them;  and  as  she  goes 
out  the  lane,  eyes  half  put  out  with  sin  think  they  see  a 
halo  of  light  about  her  brow  and  a  trail  of  glory  in  her 
pathway.  That  night  a  half-paid  shipwright  climbs 
the  hill  and  reaches  home  and  sees  his  little  boy  well 
clad  and  says:  Where  did  these  clothes  come  from?'' 
And  they  tell  him,  Dorcas  has  been  here."  In  another 
place  a  woman  is  trimming  a  lamp;  Dorcas  bought 
the  oil.  In  another  place  a  family  that  had  not  been  at 
table  for  many  a  week  are  gathered  now,  for  Dorcas 
has  brought  bread. 


THE  BELOVED  DORCAS. 


63 


GREAT  WEEPING  IN  JOPPA. 

But  there ivS  asiidden  pause  in  that  woman's  ministry. 
They  say:  Where  is  Dorcas?  Why  we  haven't  seen 
her  for  many  a  day?  Where  is  Dorcas?  And  one  of 
these  poor  people  goes  up  and  knocks  at  the  door  and 
finds  the  mystery  solved!  All  through  the  haunts  of 
wretchedness,  the  news  comes  ^'Dorcas  is  sick!''  No' 
bulletin  flashing  from  the  palace  gate,  telling  the  stages: 
of  a  king's  disease,  is  more  anxiously  awaited  than 
the  news  from  this  sick  benefactress.  Alas!  for  Joppa!: 
there  is  wailing,  wailing.  That  voice  which  has  utter- 
ed so  many  cheerful  words  is  hushed;  that  hand  which 
has  made  so  many  garments  for  the  poor  is  cold  and 
still;  the  star  which  has. poured  light  into  the  midnight 
of  wretchedness  is  dimmed  by  the  blinding  mists  that 
go  up  from  the  river  of  death.  In  every  God  forsaken 
place  in  this  town;  wherever  there  is  a  sick  child  and 
no  balm;  wherever  there  is  hunger  and  no  bread;  where- 
ever  there  is  guilt  and  no  commiseration;  wherever 
there  is  a  broken  heart  and  no  comfort,  there  are  des- 
pairing looks  and  streaming  eyes,  and  frantic  gesticu- 
lations as  they  cry:  *^Dorcas  is  dead!"  They  send  for 
the  apostle  Peter,  who  happens  to  be  in  the  suburbs  of 
this  place,  stopping  with  a  tanner  by  the  name  of 
Simon. 

THE  APOSTLE  PETER  APPEARS  ON  THE  SCENE. 

Peter  urges  his  way  through  the  crowd  around  the 
door  and  stands  in  the  presence  of  the  dead.  What 
expostulation  and  grief  all  about  him!  Here  stand 
some  of  the  poor  people,  who  show  the  garments  which 
this  poor  woman  had  made  for  them.  Their  grief  can 
not  be  appeased.   The  apostle  Peter  wants  to  perform 


64 


talmage's  sermons. 


a  miracle.  He  will  not  do  it  amid  the  excited  crowd, 
so  he  kindly  orders  that  the  whole  room  be  cleared. 
The  door  is  shut  against  the  populace.  The  apostle 
stands  now  with  the  dead.  Oh,  it  is  a  serious  moment, 
you  know,  when  you  are  alone  with  a  lifeless  body! 
The  apostle  gets  down  on  his  knees  and  pr^ys,  and 
then  he  comes  to  the  Hfeless  form  of  this  one  all  ready 
for  the  sepulcher  and  in  the  strength  of  him  who  is  the 
resurrection  he  exclaims :  ^^Tabitha,  arise! There  is 
a  stir  in  the  fountains  of  life;  the  heart  flutters;  the  nerves 
thrill;  the  cheek  flushes;  the  e^^e  opens;  she  sits  up! 

We  see  in  this  subject  Dorcas  the  disciple,  Dorcas  the 
benefactress,  Dorcas  the  lamented,  Dorcas  the  resur- 
rected. 

DORCAS,  THE  DISCIPLE. 

Ifl  had  seen  that  word  disciple  in  my  text  I  would 
have  known  this  woman  w^as  a  Christian.  Such  music 
as  that  never  came  from  a  heart  which  is  not  chorded 
and  strung  by  divine  grace.  Before  I  show  you  the 
needlework  of  this  worpan  I  want  to  show  you  her 
regenerated  heart,  the  source  of  a  pure  life  and  of  all 
christian  charities.  I  wish  that  the  wives  and  mothers 
and  daughters  and  sisters  of  all  the  earth  would  imitate 
Dorcas  in  her  discipleship.  Before  you  cross  the  thres- 
hold of  the  hospital,  , before  you  enter  upon  the  tempta- 
tions and  trials  of  tomorrow,  I  charge  you,  in  the  name 
of  God  and  by  the  turmoil  and  tumult  of  the  judgment 
day,  O  women!  that  you  attend  to  the  first,  last,  and 
greatest  duty  of  your  life —  the  seeking  for  God  and 
being  at  peace  w4th  him. 

When  the  trumpet  shall  sound  there  will  be  an  up- 
roar, and  a  wreck  of  mountain  and  continent,  and  no 
human  arm  can  help  you.    Amid  the  rising  of  the  dead, 


66 


tat.mage's  sermons. 


and  amid  the  boiling  of  yonder  sea,  and  amid  the  live, 
leaping  thunders  of  the  flying  heavens,  calm  and  placid 
will  be  every  woman's  heart  who  hath  put  her  trust  in 
Christ;  calm,  notwithstanding  all  the  tumult,  as  though 
the  fire  in  the  heavens  were  only  the  harmony  of  an 
orchestra,  as  though  the  awful  voices  of  the  sky  were 
but  a  group  of  friends  bursting  through  a  gateway  at 
eventime  with  laughter  and  shouting;  '^Dorcas,  the 
disciple! Would  God  that  every  Mary  and  every 
Martha  would  this  day  sit  down  at  the  feet  of  Jesus. 

DORCAS,  THE  BENEFACTRESS. 

Further,  we  see  Dorcas  the  benefactress.  History  has 
told  the  story  of  the  crowm;  the  epic  poet  has  sung  of 
the  sword;  the  pastoral  poet,  with  his  verses  full  of  red- 
olence of  clover  tops,  and  a-rustle  with  the  silk  of  the 
corn,  has  sung  the  praises  of  the  plow.  I  tell  you  the 
praises  of  the  needle.  From  the  fig  leaf  robe  prepared 
in  the  garden  of  Eden  to  the  last  stitch  taken  on  the 
garment  for  the  poor,  the  needle  has  wrought  wonders 
of  kindness,  generosity,  and  benefaction.  It  adorned 
the  girdle  of  the  high  priest;  it  fashioned  the  curtains  of 
the  ancient  tabernacle;  it  cushioned  the  chariots  of  King 
Solomon;  it  provided  the  robes  of  Queen  Elizabeth;  and 
in  the  high  places  and  in  the  low  places,  by  the  fire  of 
the  pioneer's  back  log  and  under  the  flash  of  the  chan- 
delier, everywhere,  it  has  clothed  nakedness,  it  has 
preached  the  gospel,  it  has  overcome  hosts  of  penury 
and  want  with  the  war-cry  of  ''Stitch,  stitch,  stitch!'' 
The  operatives  have  found  a  livelihood  by  it,  and  through 
it  the  mansions  of  the  employer  have  been  constructed. 
Amid  the  greatest  triumphs  of  all  ages  and  lands  I  set 
down  the  conquests  of  the  needle.  I  admit  its  crimes; 
I  admit  its  cruelties.    It  has  had  more  martyrs  than 


THE  BELOVED  DORCAS. 


67 


the  fire,  it  has  punctured  the  eye,  it  has  pierced  the  side, 
it  has  stuck  weakness  in  the  lungs,  it  has  sent  madness 
into  the  brain,  it  has  filled  potter's  field,  it  has  pitch- 
ed whole  armies  of  the  suffering  into  crime  and  wretch- 
edness and  woe.  But  now  that  I  am  talking  of  Dorcas 
and  her  ministries  to  the  poor,  I  shall  speak  only  of  the 
charities  of  the  needie. 

This  woman  was  a  representative  of  all  those  women 
who  make  garments  for  the  destitute,  who  knit  socks 
for  the  barefooted,  who  prepare  bandages  for  the  lacer- 
ated, who  fix  up  boxes  of  clothing  for  missionaries,  who 
go  into  the  asylums  of  the  suffering  and  destitute  bear- 
ing that  gospel  which  is  sight  for  the  blind  and  hearing 
for  the  deaf,  and  which  makes  the  lame  man  leap  like  a 
hart  and  brings  the  dead  to  life,  immortal  health  bound- 
ing in  their  pulses.  What  a  contrast  between  the  prac- 
tical benevolence  of  this  woman  and  a  great  deal  of  the 
charity  of  this  day!  This  woman  did  not  spend  her 
time  idly  planning  how  the  poor  of  your  city  of  Joppa 
were  to  be  relieved;  she  took  her  needle  and  relieved 
them.  She  was  not  like  those  persons  who  sympathize 
with  imaginary  sorrows  and  go  out  in  the  street  and 
laugh  at  the  boy  who  has  upset  his  basket  of  cold  vit- 
uals,  or  like  that  charity  which  makes  a  rousing  speech 
on  the  benevolent  platform,  and  goes  out  to  kick  the 
beggar  from  the  step,  crying:  '^Hush  your  miserable 
howling!'* 

The  sufferers  of  the  world  want  not  so  much  theory 
as  practice;  not  so  much  kind  wishes  as  loaves  of  bread; 
not  so  much  smiles  as  shoes;  not  so  much  ^'God  bless 
yous!"  as  jackets  and  frocks.  I  will  put  one  earnest 
Christian  man,  hard  working,  against  5,000  mere  theo- 
rists on  the  subject  of  charity.  There  are  a  great  many 
who  have  fine  ideas  about  church  architecture  who  never 


68 


talmage's  sermons. 


in  their  life  helped  to  build  a  church.  There  are  men 
who  can  give  you  the  history  ofBuddhism  and  Moham- 
medanism who  never  sent  a  farthing  for  their  evangel- 
ization. There  are  women  who  talk  beautifully  about 
the  suffering  of  the  world  who  never  had  the  courage, 
like  Dorcas,  to  take  the  needle  and  assault  it. 

QUEEN  BLANCHE,  QUEEN  MAUD  AND  OTHER 
BENEFACTRESSES. 

I  am  glad  that  there  is  not  a  page  of  the  world's 
history  which  is  not  a  record  of  female  benevolence. 
God  says  to  all  lands  and  people,  Come  now  and  hear 
the  widow's  mite  rattle  down  into  the  poor  box.  The 
princess  of  Counti  sold  all  her  jewels  that  she  might 
help  the  famine-stricken.  Queen  Blanche,  the  wife  of 
Louis  YIII.  of  France,  hearing  that  there  were  some 
persons  unjustly  incarcerated  in  the  prisons,  went  out 
amidst  the  rabble  and  took  a  stick  and  struck  the  door 
as  a  signal  that  they  might  all  strike  it,  and  down  went 
the  prison  door,  and  out  came  the  prisoners.  Queen 
Maud^  the  wife  of  Henry  I.,  went  down  amidst  the  poor 
and  washed  their  sores  and  administered  to  them 
cordials.  Mrs.  Retson,  at  Matagorda,  appeared  on 
the  battle-field  while  the  missiles  of  death  were  flying 
around,  and  cared  for  the  wounded.  Is  there  a  man  or 
woman  who  has  ever  heard  of  the  civil  war  in  America 
who  has  not  heard  of  the  women  of  the  sanitary  and 
Christian  commissions,  or  the  fact  that  before  the  smoke 
had  gone  up  from  Gettysburg  and  South  Mountain  the 
women  of  the  north  met  the  women  of  south  on  the  bat- 
tle-field, forgetting  all  their  animosities  while  they  bound 
up  the  wounded  and  closed  the  eyes  of  the  slain?  Do  rcas 
the  benefactress. 

I  come  now  to  speak  of  Dorcas  the  lamented.  When 


70 


TALMAGE'S  SERMONS. 


death  struck  down  that  good  woman,  oh,  how  much 
sorrow  there  was  in  this  town  of  Joppa!  I  suppose 
there  were  women  here  with  larger  fortunes;  women, 
perhaps,  with  handsomer  faces;  but  there  was  no  grief 
at  their  departure  like  this  at  the  death  of  Dorcas .  There 
was  not  more  turmoil  and  upturning  in  the  Mediter- 
ranean sea,  dashing  against  the  wharves  of  this  sea- 
port, then  there  were  surgingsto  and  fro  of  grief  because 
Dorcas  was  dead.  There  are  a  great  many  who  go  out 
oflifeandare  unmissed.  There  may  be  a  ver^^  large 
funeral;  there  may  be  a  great  many  carriages  and  a 
plumed  hearse;  there  may  be  high-sounding eulogiums; 
the  bell  may  toll  at  the  cemetery  gate;  there  may  be  a 
very  fine  marble  shaft  reared  over  the  resting  place; 
but  the  whole  thing  may  be  a  false-hood  and  a  sham. 
The  church  of  God  has  lost  nothing,  the  world  has  lost 
nothing.  It  is  only  a  nuisance  abated;  it  is  only  a 
grumbler  ceasing  to  find  fault;  it  is  only  an  idler 
stopped  yawning;  it  is  only  a  dissipated  fashionable, 
parted  from  his  wine  cellar;  while,  on  the  other  hand, 
no  useful  Christian  leaves  this  world  without  being 
missed.  The  church  of  God  cries  out  like  the  prophet: 
''Howl,  fir  tree,  for  the  cedar  has  fallen.'*  Widowhood 
comes  and  shows  the  garments  which  the  departed  had 
made.  Orphans  are  lifted  up  to  look  into  the  calm 
face  of  the  sleeping  benefactress.  Reclaimed  vagrancy 
comes  and  kisses  the  cold  brow  of  her  who  charmed  it 
away  from  sin,  and  all  through  the  streets  of  Joppa 
th^re  is  mourning — mourning  because  Dorcas  is  dead. 

BURIAL  OP  JOSEPHINE  OF  FRANCE. 

When  Josephine  of  France  was  carried  out  to  her 
grave  there  were  a  great  many  men  and  women  of 
])omp  and  pride  and  position  that  went  out  after  her; 


I'H^  BELOVED  DORCAS. 


n 


but  I  am  most  affected  by  the  story  of  history  that  on 
that  day  there  were  10,000  of  the  poor  of  France  who 
followed  her  coffin,  weeping  and  wailing  until  the  air 
rang  again,  because  when  they  lost  Josephine  they  lost 
their  last  earthly  friend.  Oh,  who  would  not  rather 
have  such  obsequies  than  all  the  tears  that  were  ever 
poured  in  the  lachrymals  that  have  been  exhumed  from 
ancient  cities.  There  may  be  no  mass  for  the  dead;  there 
may  be  no  costly  sacrophagus;  there  may  be  no  elabor- 
ate mausoleum;  but  in  the  damp  cellars  of  the  city  and 
through  the  lonely  huts  of  the  mountain  glen  there  will 
be  mourning,  mourning,  mourning,  because  Dorcas  is 
dead.  **Blessed  are  the  dead  who  die  in  the  Lord;  they 
rest  from  their  labors  and  their  works  do  followthem.'^ 

I  speak  to  you  of  Dorcas  the  resurrected.  The  apostle 
came  to  where  she  was  and  said:  **Arise;  and  she  sat 
up!''  In  what  a  short  compass  the  writer  put  that — 
^^She  sat  up!''  Oh,  what  a  time  there  must  have  been 
around  this  town  when  the  apostle  brought  her  out 
among  her  old  friends!  How  the  tears  of  joy  must 
have  started!  What  clapping  of  hands  there  must 
have  been!  What  singing!  What  laughter!  Sound  it 
all  through  that  lane!  Shout  it  down  that  dark  alley! 
Let  all  Joppa  hear  it!   Dorcas  is  resurrected! 

You  and  I  have  seen  the  same  thing  many  a  time; 
not  a  dead  body  resuscitated,  but  the  deceased  coming 
up  again  after  death  in  the  good  accomplished.  If  a 
man  labors  up  to  fifty  years  of  age,  serving  God,  and 
then  dies,  we  are  apt  to  think  that  his  earthly  work  is 
done.  No.  Hi-s  influence  on  earth  will  continue  till 
the  world  ceases.  Services  rendered  for  Christ  never 
stops.  A  Christian  woman  toils  for  the  upbuilding  of  a 
church  through  many  anxieties,  through  many  self 
denials,  with  prayers  and  tears,  and  then  she  dies.  It 


?2  TALMAGE^S  SERMONS. 

is  fiftccTi  \'cars  since  she  went  away.  Now  the  spirit  of 
God  descends  upon  the  church;  hundreds  of  souls  stand 
up  and  confess  the  faith  in  Christ.  Has  that  Christian 
woman  who  went  away  fifteen  years  ago  nothing  to 
do  with  these  things?  I  see  the  flowering  out  of  her 
noble  heart.  I  hear  the  echo  of  her  footsteps  in  all  the 
songs  over  sin  forgiven,  in  all  the  prosperity  of  the 
church.  The  good  that  seemed  to  be  buried  has  come 
up  again.    Dorcas  is  resurrected. 

After  awhile  all  these  womanly  friends  of  Christ  will 
put  down  their  needles  forever.  After  making  gar- 
ments for  others  some  one  will  make  a  garment  for 
them;  the  last  robe  we  ever  wear — the  robe  for  the 
grave.  You  will  have  heard  the  last  cry  of  pain.  You 
will  have  witnessed  the  last  orphanage.  You  will  have 
come  in  worn  out  from  your  last  round  of  mercy.  I  do 
not  know  where  you  will  sleep  nor  what  your  epitaph 
will  be;  but  there  will  be  a  lamp  burning  at  that  tomb 
and  an  angel  of  God  guarding  it,  and  through  all  the 
long  night  no  rude  foot  will  disturb  the  dust.  Sleep  on, 
sleep  on!  Soft  bed,  pleasant  shadows,  undisturbed  re- 
pose!  Sleep  on! 

Asleep  in  Jesus!    Blessed  sleep! 
From  which  none  ever  wakes  to  weep. 

Then  one  day  there  will  be  a  sky  rending,  and  a  whirl 
of  wheels,  and  the  flash  of  a  pageant;  armies  marching, 
chains  clanking,  banners  waving,  thunders  booming, 
and  that  Christian  woman  will  arise  from  the  dust,  and 
she  will  be  suddenly  surrounded — surrounded  by  the 
wanderers  of  the  street  whom  she  reclaimed,  surround- 
ed by  the  wounded  souls  to  whom  she  had  administered! 
Daughter  of  God,  so  strangely  surrounded,  what  means 
this!  It  means  that  reward  has  come,  that  the  victory 
is  won,  that  the  crown  is  ready,  that  the  banquet  is 
spread.    Shout  it  through   all  the  crumbling  earth. 


rnz  r>:i:LovK:)  dorcas. 


73 


Sijag  it  through  all  the  flyrig  heavenvS.*  Dorcas  is  resur- 
rected. 

A  STORY  OP  THE  QUEEN  OF  ENGLAND. 
In  1885,  when  some  of  the  soldiers  came  back  from 
the  Crimean  war  to  London,  the  Queen  of  England  dis- 
tributed among  them  beautiful  medals,  called  Crimean 
medals.  Galleries  were  erected  for  the  two  houses  of 
parliament  and  the  royal  family  to  sit  in.  There  was  a 
great  audience  to  witness  the  distribution  of  the  med- 
als. A  colonel  who  had  lost  both  feet  in  the  battle  of 
Inkerman  was  pulled  in  on  a  wheel-chair;  others  came 
in  limping  on  their  crutches.  Then  the  queen  of  Eng- 
land arose  before  them  in  the  name  of  the  government 
and  uttered  words  of  commendation  to  the  officers  and 
men  and  distributed  these  medals,  inscribed  with  the 
four  great  battlefields — Alma,  Balaklava,  Inkerman, 
and  Sebastopol.  As  the  queen  gave  these  to  the  wound- 
ed men  and  the  wo tmded  officers  the  bands  of  muvsic 
struck  up  the  national  air  and  the  people  with  stream- 
ing eyes  joined  in  the  song: 

God  save  our  gracious  queen  I 
Long  live  our  noble  queeni 
God  save  the  queen! 

And  then  they  shouted,  ^^Huzzah!  huzzah!"  Oh,  it 
was  a  proud  day  for  those  returned  warriors! 

But  a  brighter,  better,  and  gladder  day  will  come 
when  Christ  shall  gather  those  who  have  toiled  in  his 
service,  good  soldiers  of  Jesus  Christ.  He  shall  rise  be- 
fore them,  and  in  the  presence  of  all  the  glorihed  of 
heaven  he  will  say:  ^^Well  done,  good  and  faithful  ser- 
vant!'' and  then  he  will  distribute  the  medals  of  eternal 
victory,  not  inscribed  with  works  of  righteousness 
which  we  have  done,  but  with  those  four  great  battle- 
fields, dear  to  earth  and  dear  to  heaven,  Bethlehem! 
Nazareth!   Gethsemane!  Calvary!- 


THE  GOLDEN  SGE  OF  JERU8SLEM. 

[Delivered  in  Jerusalem,  December  8,  1889.] 
''Jerusalem!  Jerusalem!'''   Matt,  xxiii,  37, 

JERUSALEM !  JERUSALEM !— ITS  MIGHTY  PAST. 

^^/HIS  exclamation  burst  from  Christ's  lips  as  He 
^  came  in  sight  of  this  great  city,  and  although 
o  things  have  marvel ously  changed,  who  can  visit 
Jerusalem  to-day  without  having  its  mighty  past  roll 
over  on  him,  and  ordinary  utterance  must  give  place 
for  the  exclamatory  as  we  cry,  O,  Jerusalem,  Jerusalem! 
Disappointed  with  the  Holv  Land  manv  have  been, 

(75) 


76 


talmage's  skrmons. 


and  I  have  heard  good  friends  say  that  their  ardoi* 
about  sacred  places  had  been  sa  dampened  that  they 
were  sorry  they  ever  visited  Jerusalem.  But  with  me 
the  city  and  its  surroundings  are  a  rapture,  a  solemnity 
an  overwhelming  emotion.  O!  Jerusalem,  Jerusalem! 
The  procession  of  kings,  conquerors,  poets  and  immor- 
tal men  and  women  pass  before  me  as  I  stand  here. 
Among  the  throng  are  Solomon  David  and  Christ. 

SOLOMON^S   SPLENDOR  PORTRAYED. 

Yes,  through  these  streets  and  amid  these  surround- 
ings rode  Solomon,  that  wonder  of  splendor  and  wretch- 
edness. It  seemed  as  if  the  world  exhausted  itself  on 
that  man.  It  wove  its  brightest  flowers  into  his  gar- 
land. It  set  its  richest  gems  in  his  coronet.  It  pressed 
the  rarest  wine  to  his  lips.  It  robed  him  in  the  purest 
purple  and  embroidery.  It  cheered  him  with  the  sweet- 
est music  in  that  land  of  harps.  It  greeted  him  with 
the  gladdest  laughter  that  ever  leaped  from  mirth's  lip. 
It  sprinkled  his  cheek  with  spray  from  the  brightest 
fountains.  Royalty  had  no  dominion,  wealth  no  luxury, 
gold  no  glitter,  flowers  no  sweetness,  song  no  melody, 
light  no  radiance,  upholstery  no  gorgeousness,  waters 
no  gleam,  birds  no  plumage,  prancing  coursers  no  met- 
tle, architecture  no  grandeur  but  it  was  all  his.  Across 
the  thick  grass  of  the  lawn,  fragrant  with  tufts  of  cam- 
phire  from  Engedi,  fell  the  long  shadows  of  trees  brought 
from  distant  forests. 

Fish  pools,  fed  by  artificial  channels  that  brought 
the  streams  from  hills  far  away,  were  perpetually 
rufiied  with  fins,  and  golden  scales  shot  from  water 
cave  to  water  cave  with  endless  dive  swirl,  attracting 
the  gaze  of  foreign  potentates.  Birds  that  had  been 
brought  from  foreign  aviaries  glanced  and  fluttered 


THE  GOLDEN  AGE. 


77 


amdng  the  foliage,  and  called  to  their  mates  far  bc3^ond 
the  sea.  From  the  royal  stables  there  came  up  the 
neighing  of  twelve  thousand  horses,  standing  in  blank- 
ets of  Tyrian  purple,  chewing  their  bits  over  troughs 
of  gold,  waiting  for  the  king's  order  to  be  brought  out 
in  front  of  the  palace  when  the  official  dignitaries 
would  leap  into  the  saddle  for  some  grand  parade,  or 
harnessed  to  some  of  the  fourteen  hundred  chariots  of 
the  king,  the  fiery  chargers  with  flaunting  mane  and 
throbbing  nostril  would  make  the  earth  jar  with  the 
tramp  of  hoofs  and  the  thunder  of  wheels.  While  with- 
in and  without  the  palace  you  could  not  think  of  a  single 
luxury  that  could  be  added,  or  of  a  single  splendor  that 
could  be  kindled,  down  on  the  banks  of  the  sea  the  dry- 
docks  of  Ezion-geber  rang  with  the  hammers  of  the 
shipwrights  who  were  constructing  larger  vessels  for  a 
still  wider  commerce,  for  all  lands  and  climes  were  to 
be  robbed  to  make  up  Solomon's  glory.  No  rest  till 
his  keels  shall  cut  every  sea,  his  axmen  hew  every  for- 
est, his  archers  strike  every  rare  wing,  his  fishermen 
whip  every  stream,  his  merchants  trade  in  every  bazaar, 
his  name  be  honored  by  every  tribe;  and  royalty  shall 
have  no  dominion,  wealth  no  luxury,  gold  no  glitter, 
song  no  melody,  light  no  radiance,  waters  no  gleam, 
birds  no  plumage,  prancing  coursers  no  mettle,  uphol- 
stery no  gorgeousness,  architecture  no  grandeur,  but  it 
was  all  his. 

BUT  SOLOMON  IS  NOT  HAPPY. 

^'WelV'  you  say,  ''if  there  is  any  man  happy,  he 
ought  to  be.''  But  I  hear  him  coming  out  through  the 
palace,  and  see  his  robes  actually  incrusted  w^th  jewels, 
as  he  stands  in  the  front  and  looks  out  upon  the  vast 
domain.    What  does  he  say?   King  Solomon,  great  is 


78 


talmage's  sermons. 


your  dominion,  great  is  your  honor,  great  is  your  joy? 
No.  While  standing  here  amidst  all  the  splendor,  the 
tears  start,  and  his  heart  breaks  and  he  exclaims: 
*^Vanity  of  vanities;  all  is  vanity/^  What!  Solomon 
not  happy  yet?  No,  not  happy.  The  honors  and  the 
emoluments  of  this  world  brings  as  many  cares  with 
them  that  they  bring  also  torture  and  disquietude. 
Pharoah  sits  on  one  of  the  highest  earthly  eminences, 
yet  he  is  miserable  because  there  are  some  people  in  his 
realm  that  do  not  want  any  longer  to  make  bricks. 
The  head  of  Edward  I.  aches  under  his  crown  because 
the  people  will  not  pay  the  taxes,  and  Llewellyn, 
Prince  of  Wales,  will  not  do  him  homage,  and  Wallace 
will  be  a  hero.  Frederick  William  III,  of  Prussia,  is 
miserable  because  France  wants  to  take  the  Prussian 
Provinces.  The  world  is  not  large  enough  for  Louis 
XIV  and  Willian  III.  The  ghastliest  suffering,  the 
most  shriveling  fear,  the  most  rendering  jealousies,  the 
most  gigantic  disquietude,  have  walked  amidst  obse- 
quious courtiers,  and  been  clothed  in  royal  apparel, 
and  sat  on  judgment  seats  of  power. 

Honor  and  truth  and  justice  cannot  go  so  high  up  in 
authority  as  to  be  beyond  the  range  of  human  assault. 
The  pure  and  good  in  all  ages  have  been  execrated  by 
the  mob  who  cry  out:  *^Not  this  man,  but  Barabbas. 
Now,  Barabbas  was  a  robber.''  By  honesty,  by  Chris- 
tian principle,  I  would  have  you  seek  for  the  favor  and 
the  confidence  of  your  fellow  men;  but  do  not  look 
upon  some  high  position  as  though  that  were  always 
sunshine.  The  mountains  of  earthly  honor  are  like  the 
mountains  of  Switzerland,  covered  with  perpetual  ice 
and  snow.  Having  obtained  the  confidence  and  love 
of  your  associates,  be  content  with  such  things  as  you 
have.   You  brought  nothing  into  the  world,  and  it  is 


THE  GOLDEN  AGE. 


79 


very  certain  you  can  carry  nothing  out.  ''Cease  ye 
from  man,  whose  breath  is  in  his  nostrils."  There  is  an 
honor  that  is  worth  possessing,  but  it  is  an  honor  that 
comes  from  God.  Thisdayrise  up  andtakeit.  ^'Behold 
what  manner  of  love  the  father  hath  bestowed  upon 
us,  that  we  should  be  called  the  sons  of  God."  Who 
aspires  not  for  that  royalty?  Come  now,  and  be  kings 
and  priests  unto  God  and  the  lamb  forever. 

If  wealth  and  wisdom  could  have  satisfied  a  man, 
Solomon  would  have  been  satisfied.  To  say  that  Solo- 
mon was  a  millionaire  gives  but  a  very  imperfect  idea 
of  the  property  he  inherited  from  David,  his  father. 

SOLOMON'S  RICHES,  WISDOM  AND  WRETCH- 
EDNESS. 

He  had  at  his  command  gold  to  the  value  of  six  hun- 
dred and  eighty  millon  pounds,  and  he  had  silver  to  the 
value  of  one  billion,  twenty-nine  million,  three  hundred 
and  seventy-seven  pounds  sterling.  The  queen  of  Sheba 
made  him  a  nice  little  present  of  seven  hundred  and 
twenty  thousand  pounds,  and  Hiram  made  him  a  pres- 
ent of  the  same  amount.  If  he  had  lost  the  value  of 
a  whole  realm  out  of  his  pocket,  it  would  hardly  have 
been  worth  his  while  to  stoop  down  and  pick  it  up. 
He  wrote  one  thousand  and  five  songs.  He  wrote  three 
thousand  proverbs.  He  wrote  about  almost  every- 
thing. The  Bible  says  distinctly  he  wrote  about  plants, 
from  the  cedar  of  Lebanon  to  the  hyssop  that  grow- 
eth  out  of  the  wall,  and  about  birds  and  beasts  and 
fishes.  No  doubt  he  put  off  his  royal  robes,  and  put  on 
hunter's  trapping,  and  went  out  with  his  arrows  to 
bring  down  the  rarest  specimens  of  birds;  and  then 
with  his  fishing  apparatus  he  went  down  to  the  stream 
to  bring  up  the  denizens  of  the  deep,  and  plunged  into 
(he  forest  and  found  the  rarest  specimens  of  flow^r^ 


80 


talmage's  sermons. 


and  then  he  came  back  to  his  study  and  wrote  books 
about  zoology,  the  science  of  animals;  about  ichthyol- 
ogy, the  science  of  fishes;  about  ornithology,  the  science 
of  birds;  about  botany,  the  science  of  plants.  Yet,  not- 
withstanding all  his  wisdom  and  wealth,  behold  his 
wretchedness,  and  let  him  pass  on.  Did  any  other  city 
ever  behold  so  wonderful  a  man?  O  Jerusalem,  Jerusalem! 

THE  CITY  OF  DAVID-SORROW  FOR  ABSALOM. 

But  here  passes  through  these  streets,  as  in  imagina- 
tion I  see  him,  quite  as  wonderful  and  a  far  better  man. 
David  the  conqueror,  the  king,  the  poet.  Can  it  be  that 
I  am  in  the  very  city  where  he  lived  and  reigned!  David 
great  for  power,  and  great  for  grief  He  was  wrapped 
up  in  his  boy  Absalom.  He  was  a  splendid  boy,  judged 
by  the  rules  of  worldly  criticism.  From  the  crown  of 
his  head  to  the  sole  of  his  foot  there  was  not  a  single 
blemish.  The  Bible  says  that  he  had  such  a  luxuriant 
shock  of  hair  that,  when  once  a  year  it  was  shorn, 
what  was  cut  off  weighed  over  three  pounds.  But,  not- 
withstanding all  his  brilliancy  of  appearance,  he  was  a 
bad  boy,  and  broke  hisfather^s  heart.  He  was  plotting 
to  get  th^  throne  of  Israel.  He  had  marshalled  an 
army  to  overthrow  his  father^s  government.  The  day 
of  battle  had  come.  The  conflict  was  begun.  David, 
the  father,  sat  between  the  gates  of  the  palace  waiting 
for  the  tidings  of  the  conflict.  Oh,  how  rapidly  his 
heart  beat  with  emotion!  Two  great  questions  were 
to  be  decided;  the  safety  of  his  boy,  and  the  continu- 
ance of  the  throne  of  Israel.  After  awhile,  a  servant, 
standing  on  the  top  of  the  house,  looks  off,  and  he  sees 
some  one  running.  He  is  coming  with  great  speed,  and 
the  man  on  top  of  the  house  annotmces  the  coming  of 
the  messenger,  and  the  father  watches  and  waits,  and 


82 


talmage's  sermons. 


as  soon  as  the  messenger  from  the  field  of  battle  comes 
within  hailing  distance  the  father  cries  out.  Is  it  a 
question  in  regard  to  the  establishment  of  his  throne? 
Does  he  say:  * 'Have  the  armies  of  Israel  been  victor- 
ious? Am  I  to  continue  in  my  imperial  authority? 
Have  I  overthrown  my  enemies?''  Oh,  no.  There  is 
one  question  that  springs  from  his  heart  to  his  lip,  and 
springs  from  the  lip  into  the  ear  of  the  besweated  and 
bedusted  messenger  Hying  from  the  battlefield — the 
question:  *'Is  the  young  man  Absalom  safe!''  When  it 
was  told  to  David,  the  king,  that,  though  his  armies 
had  been  victorious,  his  son  had  been  slain,  the  father 
turned  his  back  upon  the  congratulations  of  the  nation, 
and  went  r  p  the  stairs  of  his  palace,  his  heart  breaking 
as  he  went,  wringing  his  hands  sometimes,  and  then 
again  pressing  them  against  his  temples  as  though  he 
would  press  them  in,  crying:  Absalom!  my  son!  my 
son!  Would  God  I  had  died  for  thee,  O  Absalom!  my 
son!  my  son!"  Stupendous  grief  of  David  resounding 
through  all  succeeding  ages.  This  was  the  city  that 
heard  the  w^oe.    O  Jerusalem,  Jerusalem! 

THE  CITY  OF  GREAT  TEMPLES. 

I  am  also  thrilled  and  overpow^ered  with  the  rememb- 
rance that  yonder,  where  now  stands  a  Mohammedan 
mosque,  stood  the  temple,  the  very  one  that  Christ  vis- 
ited. Solomon's  temple  had  stood  there,  butNebuchad- 
nezzar  thundered  it  down.  Zerubbabel's  temple  had 
stood  there,  but  that  had  been  prostrated!  Then  Herod 
biriit  a  temple  because  hew^as  fond  of  great  architecture, 
and  he  wanted  the  preceding  temples  to  seem  insigni- 
ficant. Put  eight  or  ten  modern  cathedrals  together, 
and  they  would  not  equal  tluit  structure.  It  covered 
nineteen  acres.  There  were  marble  pillars  supporting 
roofs  of  c^dar,  and  silver  tables  on  wdiich  stood  golden 


THE  GOLDEN  AGE.  83 

cups,  and  there  were  carvings  exquisite  and  inscrijotions 
resplendent,  glittering  balustrades  and  ornamented 
gateways.  The  building  of  this  temple  kept  ten  thou- 
sand workmen  busy  forty-six  years.  Stupendous 
pile  of  pomp  and  magnificence!  But  the  material  and 
architectural  grandeur  of  the  building  were  very  tame 
compared  with  the  spiritual  meaning  of  its  altars  and 
holy  of  holies,  and  the  overwhelming  significance  of  its 
ceremonies.   O  Jerusalem,  Jerusalem! 

CHRIST'S  TRIUMPHAL  ENTRY. 
But  standing  in  this  old  city  all  other  facts  are  eclipsed 
when  we  think  that  near  here  our  blessed  Lord  was 
bom,  that  up  and  down  the  streets  of  this  city  he  walk- 
ed, and  that  in  the  outskirts  of  it  he  died.  Here  was 
his  only  day  of  trimph  and  his  assassination.  One  day 
this  old  Jerusalem  is  at  the  tiptop  of  excitement.  Christ 
has  been  doing  some  remarkable  works  and  asserting 
very  high  authority.  The  police  court  has  issued  pa- 
pers for  his  arrest;  for  this  thing  must  be  stopped,  as 
the  very  government  is  imperiled.  News  comes  that 
last  night  this  stranger  arrived  at  a  suburban  village 
and  that  he  is  stopping  at  the  house  of  a  man  whom 
he  had  resuscitated  after  four  days  sepulture.  Well,  the 
people  rush  out  into  the  streets,  some  with  the  idea  of 
helping  in  the  arrest  of  this  stranger  when  he  arrives, 
and  others  expecting  that  on  the  morrow  he  will  come 
into  the  town  and  by  some  supernatural  force  oust  the 
municipal  and  royal  authorities  and  take  everything  in 
his  own  hands..  They  pour  out  of  the  city  gates  until 
the  procession  reaches  to  the  village.  They  come  all 
around  about  the  house  where  the  stranger  is  stopping, 
and  peer  into  the  doors  and  windows  that  they  may 
get  one  glimpse  of  him  or  hear  the  hum  of  his  voice. 
The  police  dare  not  make  the  arrest,  because  he  has 


o 


l^HE  GOLDEN  AGE. 


85 


«iOmelio\v  won  the  affections  of  all  the  people.  Oh;  it  is 
a  lively  night  in  yonder  Bethany!  Tiie  heretofore  quiet 
village  is  filled  with  uproar,  and  outcry  and  loud  dis- 
cussion about  the  strange  acting  coun try ma.n.  I  do  not 
think  there  was  any  sleep  house  that  night 

w^here  the  stranger  was  stopping.  Although  he  came 
in  weary  he  finds  no  rest,  though  for  once  in  his  life- 
time he  had  a  pillow.  But  the  morning  dawns,  the  olive 
gardens  wave  in  the  light,  all  along  y  onder  road,  reach- 
ing the  top  of  Olive,  toward  this  city,  there  is  a  vast 
swaying  crov/d  of  wondering  people.  The  excitement 
around  the  door  of  the  cottage  is  wild  as  the  stranger 
steps  cut  besides  an  unbroken  colt  that  had  never  been 
mounted,  and  a^fter  his  friends  had  strewn  their  gar- 
ments on  the  beast  for  a  saddle  the  Saviour  mounts  it, 
and  the  populace,  excited  and  shouting  and  feverish, 
push  on  back  tov/ard  this  city  of  Jerusalem. 

'^KOSANNA!  HOSANNA!"  CRY  THE  PEOPLE. 

Let  none  jeer  now  or  scoff  at  this  rider;  or  the  popu- 
lace will  trample  him  under  foot  in  an  instant.  There 
is  one  long  shout  of  two  miles,  and  as  far  as  the  eye  can 
reach  you  see  wavings  of  demonstrations  and  approval. 
There  vvas  something  in  the  ridel^'s  visage,  something  in 
his  majestic  brow,  something  in  his  princely  behavior, 
that  stirs  up  the  enthusiasm  of  the  people.  They  run 
up  against  the  beast  and  try  to  pull  the  rider  off  into 
their  arms  and  carry  on  their  shoulders  the  illustrious 
stranger.  The  populace  are  so  excited  that  they  hardly 
know  what  to  do  with  themselves,  and  some  rush  up 
to  the  roadside  trees  and  wrench  off  branches  and  thro w 
them  in  his  w^ay;  and  others  doff  their  garments^  what 
though  they  be  new  a,nd  costly,  and  spread  them  for  a 
carpet  for  the  conquerer  to  ride  over.    ''Hosanna!"  cry 


86 


TALMAGE^S  SERMONS. 


the  people  at  the  foot  of  the  hill.  ''Hosanna!''  cry  the 
people  all  up  and  down  the  mountain. 

THE  SCENE  FROM  OLIVET. 

The  procession  has  now  come  to  the  brow  of  yonder 
Olivet.  Magnificent  prospect  reaching  out  in  every 
direction — vineyards,  olive  groves,  jutting  rock,  silvery 
Siloam,  and  above  all,  rising  on  its  throne  of  hills,  this 
most  highly  honored  city  of  all  the  earth,  Jerusalem. 
Christ  there,  in  the  midst  of  the  procession,  looks  off 
and  sees  here  fortressed  gates,  and  yonder  the  circling 
wall,  and  here  the  towers  blazing  in  the  sun,  Phasaelus 
and  Mariamme.  Yonder  is  Hippicus,  the  king's  castle. 
Looking  along  in  the  range  of  the  larger  branch  of  that 
olive  tree,  you  see  the  mansions  of  the  merchant  princes. 
Through  this  cleft  in  the  limestone  rock  you  see  the  palace 
of  the  richest  trafficker  in  all  the  earth.  He  has  made 
his  money  by  selling  Tyrian  purple.  Behold  now  the 
temple!  Clouds  of  smoke  lifting  from  the  shimmering 
roof,  w^hile  the  building  rises  up  beautiful,  grand,  ma- 
jestic, the  architectural  skill  and  glory  of  the  earth  lift- 
ing themselves  there  in  one  triumphant  doxology,  the 
frozen  prayer  of  all  nations.  The  crowd  looked  around 
to  see  exhilaration  and  transport  in  the  face  of  Christ. 
Oh,  no!  Out  from  amid  the  gates,  and  the  domes,  and 
the  palaces,  there  arose  a  vision  of  the  city's  sin,  and  of 
this  citiy's  doom,  which  obliterated  the  landscape  from 
horizon  to  horizon,  and  he  burst  into  tears,  crying; 
''O  Jerusalem,  Jerusalem!''  But  that  was  the  only  day 
of  pomp  that  Jesus  saw  in  and  around  this  city.  Yet 
he  walked  the  streets  of  this  city  the  lovliest  and  most 
majestic  being  that  the  world  ever  saw  or  ever  will  see. 

A  ROMAN  LETTER  DESCRIBING  JESUS. 
Publius  Lentilus,  in  a  letter  to  the  Roman  senate,  de- 


88 


talmage's  sermons. 


,  scribes  him  as  *'aman  of  stature  somewhat  tall,  his 
hair  the  color  of  a  chestnut  fully  ripe,  plain  to  the  ears, 
whence  downward  it  is  more  orient,  curling  and  waving 
about  the  shoulders;  in  the  midst  of  his  forehead  is  a 
stream,  or  partition  of  his  hair;  forehead  plain,  and 
very  delicate:  his  face  without  a  spot  or  a  wrinkle,  a 
lovely  red;  his  nose  and  mouth  so  forked  as  nothing 
can  be  represented;  his  beard  thick,  in  color  like  his 
hair — not  very  long;    his  eyes  gray,  quick  and  clear." 

THE  CITY  OP  CHRIST'S  AGONY  AND  DEATH! 

He  must  die.  The  French  army  in  Italy  found  a  brass 
plate  on  which  was  a  copy  of  his  death  warrant,  signed 
by  John  Ferubbabel,  Raphael  Robani,  Daniel  Roban 
and  Capet.  Sometimes  men  on  the  way  to  the  scaffold 
have  been  rescued  by  the  mob.  No  such  attempt  was 
made  in  this  case,  for  themob  were  against  him.  From 
nine  in  the  morning,  until  three  in  the  afternoon, 
Jesus  hung  a-dying  in  the  outskirts  of  this  city.  It 
was  the  scene  of  blood.  We  are  so  constituted 
that  nothing  is  so  exciting  as  blood.  It  is  not 
the  child's  cr^^  in  the  street  that  arouses  you  as  the 
crimson  dripping  from  his  lip.  In  the  dark  hall,  seeing 
the  finger  marks  of  blood  on  the  plastering,  you  cry: 
''What  terrible  deed  has  been  done  here?"  Looking  up- 
on this  suspended  victim  of  the  cross,  w^e  thrill  with  the 
sight  of  blood — blood  dripping  from  thorn  and  nail, 
blood  rushing  upon  his  cheek,  blood  saturating  his  gar- 
ments, blood  gathered  in  a  pool  beneath.  It  is  called 
an  honor  to  have  in  one's  veins  the  blood  of  the  house 
of  Stuart,  or  of  the  house  of  Hapsburg.  Is  it  nothing 
when  I  i:)oint  you  to  the  outpouring  blood  of  the  king 
of  the  universe? 

In  England  the  name  of  Henry  was  so  great  that  its 


I'HE  GOLDEN  AGE. 


89 


honors  were  divided  among  different  reigns.  It  was 
Henry  the  First,  and  Henry  the  Second,  and  Henry  the 
Third,  and  Henry  the  Fourth,  and  Henry  the  Fifth.  In 
France  the  name  of  Louis  was  so  favorably  regarded 
that  it  was  Louis  the  First,  Louis  the  Second,  Louis 
the  Third,  and  so  on.  But  the  king  who  walked  these 
streets  was  Christ  the  First,  and  Christ  the  Last,  and 
Christ  the  Only.  He  reigned  before  the  czar  mounted 
the  throne  of  Russia,  or  the  throne  of  Austria  was  ti- 
tled, ^^king  eternal,  immortal. Through  indulgences  of 
the  royal  family,  the  physical  life  degenerates,  and  some 
of  the  kings  have  been  almost  imbecile,  and  their  bodies 
weak,  and  their  blood  thin  and  watery:  But  the  crim- 
son life  that  flowed  upon  Calvary  had  in  it  the  health 
of  immortal  God. 

THE  LAST  SAD  HOUR. 

Tell  it  now  to  all  the  earth,  and  to  all  the  heavens — 
Jesus,  our  king,  is  sick  with  his  last  sickness.  Let 
couriers  carry  the  swift  dispach.  His  pains  are  worst; 
he  is  breathing  a  last  groan;  through  his  body  quivers 
the  last  anguish;  the  king   is  dying;  the  king  is  dead! 

It  is  royal  blood.  It  is  said  that  some  religionists 
make  too  much  of  the  humanity  of  Christ.  I  respond 
that  we  make  too  little.  If  some  Roman  surgeon,  stand- 
ing under  the  cross,  had  caught  one  drop  of  the  blood 
on  his  hand  and  analyzed  it,  it  would  have  been  found 
to  have  the  same  plasma,  the  same  disk,  the  same 
fibrin,  the  same  albumen.  It  was  unmistakably  human 
blood.  It  is  a  man  that  hangs  there.  His  bones  are  of 
the  same  material  as  ours.  If  it  were  an  angel  being 
despoiled  I  would  not  feel  it  so  much,  for  it  belongs  to  a 
different  order  of  beings.  But  my  Savoir  is  a  man,  and 
my  whole  sympathy  is  aroused.  I  can  imagine  how 
the  spikes  felt — how  hot  the  temples  burned — what 


90 


TALMAGE'S  vSERMONS. 


deadly  sickness  seized  his  heart — how  mountain,  and 
city,  and  mob  swam  away  from  his  dying  vision — 
something  of  the  meaning  of  that  cry  for  help  that 
makes  the  blood  of  all  the  ages  curdle  with  horror: 
*'My  God!  my  God!  why  hast  thou  forsaken  me?'* 

Forever  with  all  these  scenes  of  a  Savior's  suffering 
will  this  city  be  associeted.  Here  his  unjust  trial  and 
here  his  death.    O  Jerusalem,  Jerusalem! 

THE  NEW  JERUSALEM. 

But  finally  I  am  thrilled  with  the  fact  that  this  city 
is  a  symbol  of  heaven  which  is  only  another  Jerusalem. 
*^TheNew  Jerusalem!"  And  this  thought  has  kindled 
the  imagination  of  all  the  sacred  poets.  I  am  glad  that 
Horatio  Bonar  the  Scotch  hymnist  rummaged  among 
old  manuscripts  of  the  British  museum  until  he  found 
that  hymn  in  ancient  spelling,  parts  of  which  we  have 
in  mutilated  form  in  our  modern  hymn  books,  but  the 
quaint  power  of  which  we  do  not  get  in  our  modern 
versions: 

Hierusalem,  my  happy  home! 

When  shall  I  come  to  thee? 
When  shall  my  sorrows  have  an  end, 

Thy  joys  when  shall  I  see? 
Noe  dampish  mist  is  seene  in  thee, 

Noe  colde  nor  darksome  night : 
There  everie  soule  shines  as  the  sunne, 

There  God  himselfe  gives  light. 

Thy  walls  are  made  of  peetious  stones, 

Thy  bulwarkes  diamondes  square ; 
Thy  gates  are  of  right  orient  pearle, 

Exceedinge  riche  and  rare, 

Thy  turrettes  and  thy  pinnacles 

With  carbuncles  doe  shine ; 
Thy  verrie  streets  are  paved  with  gfould, 

Surpassinge  ckare  and  fine. 


THE  GOLDEN  AGE. 


91 


Thy  houses  are  of  yvorie, 

Thy  windows  crystal  cleare ; 
Thy  tyles  are  made  of  beaten  qovlM, 

O  God  !  that  I  were  there. 

Our  sweete  is  mixt  with  bitter gaule, 

Our  pleasure  is  but  paine ; 
Our  joyes  scarce  last  the  lookeing  on. 

Our  sorrowes  stille  remaine. 

But  there  they  live  in  such  delight, 

Such  pleasures  and  such  play, 
As  that  to  them  a  thousand  yeares 

Doth  seem  as  yesterday. 

Thy  gardens  and  thy  gallant  walkcs 

Continually  are  greene ; 
There  grow  such  sweete  and  pleasant  flowers 

As  no  where  else  are  scene. 

There  trees  for  evermore  beare  fruite 

And  evermore  doe  springe ; 
There  .evermore  the  angels  sit. 

And  evermore  doe  singe. 

Hierusalem !  my  happie  home ! 

Would  God  I  were  in  thee ! 
"Would  God  my  woes  were  at  an  end, 

Thy  joyese  that  I  might  see  I 


JESUS  CROSSING  GALILEE,  AND  STILLING  TUV.  TEMPEST, 


IN  CAPERNAUM. 


THE  STORMY  PflSSilGE  ON  GSLILEE- 

[Delivered  in  Capernaum,  i'alcstine,  Dcceriiber,  15,  1890.] 

''And  entered  into  a  shipy  and  went  over  the  sea  toward  Caperna- 
um.'' John  vi,  17. 

'^And  He  arose  and  rebuked  the  wind Mark  iv: 39 

ON  THE  BANKS  OF  GALILEE. 

t^jjiiCl  ERE  in  this  seashore  village  was  the  temporary 
home  of  that  Christ  who  for  the  most  of  his  life 
was  homeless.  On  the  site  of  this  village,  now 
in  ruins,  and  all  around  this  lake,  what  scenes  of  kind- 
ness, and  power,  and  glory,  and  pathos  w^hen  our  Lord 
lived  here!  It  has  been  the  wish  of  my  life — I  cannot 
say  the  hope,  for  I  never  expected  the  privilege — to  stand 
on  the  banks  of  Galilee.  What  a  solemnity  and  what  a 
rapture  to  be  here!  I  can  now  understand  the  feeling 
of  the  immortal  Scotchman,  Robert  McChejme,  when^ 
sitting  on  the  banks  of  this  lake,  he  wrote: 

(93) 


94 


talmage's  sermons. 


**It  is  not  that  the  wild  gazelle 

Comes  down  to  drink  thy  tide, 
But  he  that  was  pierced  to  save  from  hell 

Oft  wandered  by  thy  side. 
Graceful  around  thee  the  mountains  meet, 

Thou  calm  reposing  sea; 
But  ah!    far  more,  the  beautiful  feet 

Of  Jesus  walked  o'er  thee. ' ' 

I  can  now  easily  understand  from  the  contour  of  the 
country  that  bounds  this  lake  that  storms  were  easily 
tempted  to  make  these  waters  their  play-ground.  From 
the  gentle  way  this  lake  treated  our  boats  when  we 
sailed  on  it  yesterday  one  would  have  thought  it  incap- 
able of  a  paroxysm  of  rage,  but  it  was  quite  different 
on  both  the  occasions  spoken  of  in  my  two  texts. 

A  BEAUTIFUL  SCENE. 

I  close  my  eyes,  and  the  shore  of  Lake  Galilee  as  it 
now  is,  with  but  little  signs  of  human  life,  disappears, 
and  there  comes  back  to  my  vision  the  lake  as  it  was  in 
Christ's  time.  It  lay  in  a  sense  of  great  luxuriance;  the 
surrounding  hills,  terraced,  sloped,  grooved,  so  many 
hanging  gardens  of  beauty.  On  the  shore  were  castles, 
armed  towers,  Roman  baths,  every  thing  attractive  and 
beautiful — all  styles  of  vegetation  in  shorter  space  than 
in  almost  any  other  space  in  all  the  world,  from  the 
palm-tree  of  the  forest,  to  the  trees  of  rigorous  climate. 

It  seemed  as  if  the  Lord  had  launched  one  wave  of 
beauty  on  all  the  scene,  and  it  hung  and  swung  from 
rock  and  hill  and  oleander.  Roman  gentlemen  in  pleas- 
ure-boats sailing  this  lake  and  countrymen  in  fish-smacks 
coming  down  to  drop  their  nets  pass  each  other  with 
nod,  and  shout,  and  laughter,  or  swinging  idly  at  their 
mooring.  Oh,  what  a  beautiful  scene!  It  seems  as  if 
we  shall  have  a  quiet  night.   Not  a  leaf  winked  in  the 


THE  STORMY  PASSAGE. 


95 


air;  not  a  ripple  disturbed  the  face  of  Gennesaret,  but 
there  seems  to  be  a  little  excitement  np  the  beach  and 
we  hasten  to  see  what  it  is  and  we  find  it  is  an  embark- 
ation. 

ON  THE  SEA  WITH  CHRIST. 

From  the  western  shore  a  flotilla  pushed  out;  not  a 
squadron,  or  deadly  armament,  nor  clipper  with  valuable 
merchandise,  nor  piratic  vessel  ready  to  destroy  everj^- 
thing  they  could  seize,  but  a  flotilla  bearing  messengers 
of  light,  and  life,  and  peace.  Christ  is  in  the  front  of 
the  boat.  His  disciples  are  in  a  smaller  boat.  Jesus, 
weary  with  much  speaking  to  large  multitudes,  is  put 
into  somnolence  by  the  rocking  of  the  waves.  If  there 
was  any  motion  at  all  the  ship  was  easily  righted;  if 
the  wind  passed  from  starboard  to  larboard  or  from 
larboard  to  starboard  the  boat  would  rock,  and  by 
the  gentleness  of  the  motion  putting  the  master  asleep. 
And  they  extemporized  a  pillow  made  out  of  a  fisherman 's 
coat.  I  think  no  sooner  is  Christ  prostrate  and  his  head 
touched  the  pillow  than  he  is  sound  asleep.  The  breezes 
of  the  lake  run  their  fingers  through  the  locks  of  the 
worn  sleeper  and  the  boat  rises  and  falls  like  a  sleeping 
child  on  the  bosom  of  a  sleeping  mother. 

Calm  night,  starry  night,  beautiful  night.  Run  up 
all  the  sails,  ply  all  the  oars,  and  let  the  large  boat  and 
the  small  boat  glide  over  the  gentle  Gennesaret.  But 
the  sailors  say  there  is  going  to  be  a  change  of  weather. 
And  even  the  passengers  can  hear  the  moaning  of  the 
storm  as  it  comes  on  with  great  stride  and  all  the  ter- 
rors of  hurricane  and  darkness .  The  large  boat  trembles 
like  a  deer  at  bay  among  the  clangor  of  the  hounds; 
great  patches  of  foam  are  flung  into  the  air;  the  sails 
of  the  vessel  loosen,  and  the  sharp  winds  crack  like 


96 


TALMAGE^S  SEKMONS. 


pistols;  the  smaller  boats  like  petrels  poise  on  tiic  cliils 
of  the  waves  and  then  plunge. 

CHRIST  STILLING  THE  TEMPEST. 

Overboard  go  cargo,  tackling,  and  masts,  and  the 
drenched  disciples  rush  into  the  back  part  of  the  boat 
and  lay  hold  of  Christ  and  say  unto  him;  Master 
carest  thou  not  that  we  perish?'^  That  great  person- 
age lifts  his  head  from  the  pillow  of  the  fisherman's 
coat,  walks  to  the  front  of  the  vessel,  and  looks  out  in- 
to the  storm.  All  around  him  are  the  smaller  boats, 
driven  in  the  tempest,  and  through  it  comes  the  cry  of 
drowning  men.  By  the  flash  of  the  lightning  I  see  the 
calm  brow  of  Christ  as  the  spray  dropped  from  his 
beard.  He  has  one  word  for  the  sky  and  another  for 
the  waves.  Looking  upward  he,  cries:  ''Peace!'*  Look- 
ing downward  he  says:    *'Be  still!" 

The  waves  fall  flat  on  their  faces,  the  foam  melts,  the 
extinguished  stars  relight  their  torches.  The  tempest 
falls  dead  and  Christ  stands  with  his  feet  on  the  neck 
of  the  storm.  And  w^iile  the  sailors  are  bailing  out  the 
boats,  and  while  they  are  trying  to  untangle  the  cord- 
age the  disciples  stand  in  amazement,  now  looking  in- 
to the  calm  sea,  then  into  the^  calm  sky,  then  into  the 
calm  Savior's  countenance,  and  they  cry  out:  *'What 
manner  of  a  man  is  this  that  even  the  winds  atid  the 
sea  obey  him?"  ' 

HAVE  CHRIST  ON  YOUR  SHIP 

The  subject  in  the  first  place  impresses  me  with  the 
fact  that  it  is  very  important  to  have  Christ  in  the  ship, 
for  all  those  boats  would  have  gone  to  the  bottom  of 
Gennesaret  if  Christ  had  not  been  present.  Oh,  what 
a  lesson  ibr  you  and  for  me  to  learn!   We  must  always 


d8 


taIvMage's  sermons. 


have  Christ  in  the  ship.  Whatever  voyage  v^^e  under- 
take, into  whatever  enterprise  we  start,  let  us  always 
have  Christ  in  the  ship.  All  you  can  do  with  ut- 
most tension  of  body,  and  mind,  and  soul  you  are 
bound  to  do,  but  oh!  have  Christ  in  every  enterprise, 
Christ  in  every  voyage. 

There  are  men  who  ask  God's  help  at  the  beginning 
of  great  enterprises.  He  has  been  with  them  in  the 
past;  no  trouble  can  overthrow  them;  the  storms  might 
come  down  from  the  top  of  mount  Hermon  and  lash 
Gennesaret  into  foam  and  into  agony,  but  it  could  not 
hurt  them.  But  here  is  another  man  who  starts  out 
in  worldly  enterprise,  and  he  depends  on  the  uncertain- 
ties of  this  life.  He  has  no  God  to  help  him.  After 
awhile  the  storm  comes  and  tosses  off  the  masts  of  the 
ship;  he  puts  out  his  life-boat  and  the  long  boat;  the 
sheriff  and  the  auctioneer  try  to  help  him  off;  they  can't 
help  him  off;  he  must  go  down — no  Christ  in  the  ship. 
Your  life  will  be  made  up  of  sunshine  and  shadows. 
There  may  be  in  it  Arctic  blasts  or  tropical  tornadoes; 
I  know  not  what  is  before  you,  but  I  know  if  you 
have  Christ  with  you  all  shall  be  well.  You  may  seem 
to  get  along  without  the  religion  of  Christ  while  every- 
thing goes  smoothly,  but  after  awhile,  when  sorrow 
hovers  over  the  soul,  when  the  waves  of  trial  dash 
clear  over  the  hurricane  deck,  and  the  decks  are  crowd- 
ed with  piratical  disasters — oh,  what  would  you  do 
then  without  Christ  in  the  ship?  Take  God  for  your 
portion,  God  for  your  guide,  God  for  your  help;  then 
all  is  well;  all  is  well  for  time,  all  shall  be  well  forever. 
Blessed  is  that  man  who  puts  in  the  Lord  his  trust. 
He  shall  never  be  confounded. 

But  my  subject  also  impresses  me  with  the  fact  that 
when  people  start  to  follow  Christ  they  must  not 


THE  STORMY  PASSAGE. 


99 


THE  MARTYRS, 
expect  smooth  sailing. 

These  disciples  got  into  the  small  boats,  and  I  have 
no  doubt  they  said:  ^'What  a  beautiful  day  this  is! 
What  a  smooth  sea!  What  a  bright  sky  this  is!  How 
delightful  is  sailing  in  this  boat!  And  as  for  the  waves 
under  the  keel  of  the  boat,  why,  they  only  make  the 
motion  of  our  little  boat  the  more  delightful."  But 
when  the  winds  swept  down  and  the  sea  was  tossed 
into  wrath,  then  they  found  that  following  Christ  was 
not  smooth  sailing.  So  you  have  found  it;  so  I  have 
found  it.  Did  you  ever  notice  the  end  of  the  life  of  the 
apostles  of  Jesus  Christ?  You  would  say,  if  ever  men 
ought  to  have  had  a  smooth  life,  a  smooth  departure, 
then  those  men,  the  disciples  of  Jesus  Christ,  ought  to 
have  had  such  a  departure  and  such  a  life.  St.  James 
lost  his  head.  St.  Philip  was  hanged  to  death  on  a 
pillar.  St.  Matthew  had  his  life  dashed  out  with  a  hal- 
bert.  St.  Mark  was  dragged  to  death  through  the 
streets.  St.  James  the  Less  was  beaten  to  death  with 
a  fuller's  club.  St.  Thomas  was  struck  through  with 
a  spear.  They  did  not  find  following  Christ  smooth 
sailing.  Oh,  how  they  were  all  tossed  in  the  tempest! 
John  .  Huss  in  the  fire,  Hugh  McKall  in  the  hour  of 
martyrdom,  the  Albigenses,  the  Waldenses,  the  Scotch 
Covenanters — did  they  find  it  smooth  sailing?  But 
why  go  into  history  when  we  can  draw  from  our  own 
memory  illustrations  of  the  truth  of  what  I  say?  Some 
young  man  in  a  store  trying  to  serve  God,  while  his 
employer  scoffs  at  Christianity;  the  young  men  in  the 
same  store,  antagonistic  to  the  Christian  religion,  teas- 
ing him,  tormenting  him  about  his  religion,  trying 
to  get  him  mad.  They  succeed  in  getting  him  mad, 
saying:     ''You'er  a  pretty  Christian!''     Does  that 


100 


TALMAGE'S  SERMONvS. 


young  man  find  it  smooth  sailing  when  he  tries  to  fol- 
low Christ?  Or  you  remember  a  Christian  girl.  Her 
father  despises  the  Christian  religion;  her  mother  des- 
pises the  Christian  religion;  her  brothers  and  sisters 
scoff  at  the  Christian  religion;  she  can  hardly  find  a 
quiet  place  in  which  to  say  her  prayers.  Did  she  find 
it  smooth  sailing  when  she  tried  to  follow  Jesus  Christ? 
Oh,  no!  All  who  would  live  the  life  of  the  Christian 
religion  must  suffer  presecution:  if  you  do  not  find  it 
in  one  way  you  will  get  it  in  another  way.  The  ques- 
tion was  asked:  *^Who  are  the  nearest  the  throne?^' 
And  the  answercame  back:  ^'These  are  they  who  came 
up  out  of  great  tribulation — great  flailing  as  the  orig- 
inal has  it;  great  flailing,  great  pounding — and  had 
their  robes  washed  and  made  white  in  the  blood  of  the 
lamb.''  Oh,  do  not  be  disheartened!  Take  courage. 
You  are  in  glorious  companionship.  God  will  see  you 
through  all  trials  and  he  will  deliver  you. 

DO  NOT  BE  FRIGHTENED. 

My  subject  impresses  me  with  the  fact  that  good 
people  sometimes  get  very  much  frightened. 

In  the  tones  of  these  disciples  as  they  rushed  into  the 
back  part  of  the  boat  I  find  they  are  frightened  almost 
to  death.  They  say:  ^^Master,  carest  thou  not  that 
we  perish?"  They  had  no  reason  to  be  frightened,  for 
Christ  was  in  the  boat.  I  suppose  if  we  had  been  there 
we  would  have  been  just  as  much  affrighted.  Perhaps 
more.  In  all  ages  very  good  people  get  very  much 
affrighted.  It  is  often  so  in  our  day  and  men  say:  *^Why, 
look  at  the  bad  lectures;  look  at  the  various  errors 
going  over  the  church  of  God.  We  are  going  to  found- 
er. Thechurch  is  going  to  perish.  She  is  going  down.'* 
Oh,  how  many  good  people  are  affrighted  by  iniquity 
in  our  day  and  think  the  •  church  of  Jesus  Christ  is  go- 


102 


talmage's  sermons. 


ing  to  be  overthrown,  andare  just  as  much  affrighted  as 
were  the  disciples  of  my  text.  Don't  wotry,  don't  fret, 
as  though  iniquity  were  going  to  triumph  over  right- 
eousness. A  lion  goes  into  a  cavern  to  sleep.  He  lies 
down,  with  his  shaggy  mane  covering  the  paws. 
Meanwhile  the  spiders  spin  a  web  across  the  mouth 
of  the  cavern  and  say:  ^^We  havecaptured  him.''  Gos- 
samer thread  after  gossamer  thread,  uniil  the  whole 
front  of  the  cavern  is  covered  with  the  spiders'  web 
and  the  spiders  say:  ^'Thelion  is  done;  the  lion  is  fast." 
After  awhile  the  lion  has  got  through  sleeping;  he 
rouses  himself;  he  shakes  his  mane;  he  walks  out  into 
the  sunlight;  he  does  not  even  know  the  spiders  web 
is  spun,  and  with  his  voice  shakes  the  mountain.  So 
men  come  spinning  their  sophistries  and  skepticism  about 
Jesus  Christ;  'he  seems  to  be  sleeping.  They  say:  *'We 
have  captured  the  Lord;  he  will  never  come  forth  again 
apon  the  nation;  Christ  is  captured  forever.  His  reli- 
gion will  never  make  any  conquest  among  men."  But 
after  awhile  the  lion  of  the  tribe  of  Judah  will  rouse 
himself  and  come  forth  to  shake  mightily  the  nations. 
What's  a  spider's  web  to  the  aroused  lion!  Give  truth  and 
error  a  fair  grapple  and  truth  will  come  off  victor. 

But  there  are  a  great  many  good  people  who  get  af- 
frighted in  other  respects;  they  are  affrighted  in  our 
day  about  revivals.  They  say:  ^^Oh!  this  is  a  strong 
religious  gale;  we  are  afraid  the  church  of  God  is  going 
to  be  upset,  and  there  are  going  to  be  a  great  many 
people  brought  into  the  church  that  are  going  to  be  of 
no  use  to  it,"  and  they  are  affrighted  whenever  they  see 
a  revival  taking  hold  of  the  churches.  As  though  a 
ship  captain,  with  5,000  bushels  of  wheat  for  a  cargo, 
should  say  some  day,  coming  upon  deck:  '^Throw  over- 
board all  the  cargo,"  and the^ailorj^shouldsay:  ''Why, 


THE  STORMY  PASvSAGEj. 


103 


captain,  what  do  you  mean?  *'0h, "says  the  captain, 
''we  have  a  peck  of  chaff  that  has  got  into  this  5,000 
bushels  of  wheat,  and  the  only  way  to  get  rid  of  the 
chaff  is  to  throw  all  the  wheat  overboard/'  Now,  that 
is  a  great  deal  wiser  than  the  talk  of  a  great  many 
Christians  who  want  to  throw  overboard  all  the  thou- 
sands and  tens  of  thousands  of  souls  who  are  the  sub- 
jects of  revivals.  Throw  all  overboard  because  they 
are  brought  into  the  kingdom  of  God  through  great  re- 
vivals, because  there  is  a  peck  of  chaff,  a  quart  of  chaff, 
a  pint  of  chaff!  I  say,  let  them  stay  until  the  last  day; 
the  Lord  will  divide  the  chaff  from  the  wheat.  Do  not 
be  afraid  of  a  great  revival.  Oh  that  such  gales  from 
heaven  might  sweep  through  all  our  churches!  Oh,  for 
such  days  as  Richard  Baxter  saw  in  England,  and 
Rodert  McCheyne  saw  in  Dundee!  Oh,  for  such  days  as 
Johnathan  Edwards  saw  in  Northampton! 

A  GOOD  STORY  OP  OLD  JOHN  LIVINGSTON. 
I  have  often  heard  my  father  tell  the  fact  that  in  the 
early  part  of  this  century  a  revival  broke  out  at  Somer- 
ville,  N.  J.,  and  some  people  were  very  much  agitated 
about  it.  They  said:  ''Oh,  you  are  going  to  bring  too 
many  people  into  the  church  at  once,''  and  they  sent 
down  to  New  Brunswick  to  get  John  Livingston  to  stop 
the  revival.  Well,  there  was  no  better  soul  in  all  the 
world  than  John  Livingston.  He  went  and  looked  at 
the  revival;  they  wanted  him  to  stop  it.  He  stood  in 
the  pulpit  on  the  Sabbath  and  looked  over  the  solemn 
auditory,  and  he  said:  ^'This,  brethern  is  in  reality  the 
work  of  God;  beware  how  you  try  to  stop  it."  And 
he  was  an  old  man,  leaning  heavily  on  his  staff— a  very 
old  man.  And  he  lifted  that  staff,  and  took  hold  of  the 
small  end  of  the  staff,  and  began  to  let  it  fall  slowly 
through  between  the  finger  and  the  thumb,  and  he  said: 


104 


TAT.MAGE^S  SERMONS. 


**Ori,  ilicii  impenitent,  thoti  artfallingnow — fallingfrom 
life,  falling  away  from  peace  and  heaven,  falling  as  cer- 
tainly, as  that  cane  is  falling  through  my  hand — falling 
certainly,  though  perhaps  falling  slowly!"  And  the 
cane  kept  on  falling  through  John  Livingston's  hand. 
The  religious  emotion  in  the  audience  was  overpowering, 
and  men  saw  a  type  of  their  doom,  as  the  cane  kept 
falling  and  falling,  until  the  nob  of  the  cane  struck  Mr. 
Livingston's  hand,  and  he  clasped  it  stoutly  and  said: 
*^But  the  grace  of  God  can  stop  you  as  I  stopped  that 
cane, ''and  then  there  was  a  gladness  all  through  the 
house  at  the  fact  of  pardon,  and  peace,  and  salvation. 
*'Well,"  said  the  people  after  the  service:  ^'I  guess  you 
had  better  send  Livingston  home;  he  is  making  the  re- 
vival worse/'  Oh,  for  gales  from  heaven  to  sweep  all 
the  continents!  The  danger  of  the  chut-ch  of  God  is  not 
in  revivals. 

JESUS  IS  BOTH  GOD  AND  MAN. 

Again,  my  subject  impresses  me  with  the  fact  that 
Jesus  was  God  and  man  in  .the  same  being.  Here  he  is 
in  the  back  part  of  the  boat.  Oh,  how  tired  he  looks; 
what  sad  dreams  he  must  have!  Look  at  his  counte- 
nance; he  must  be  thinking  of  the  cross  to  come.  Look 
at  him,  he  is  a  man— bone  of  our  bone,  flesh  of  our  flesh. 
Tired,  he  falls  asleep;  he  is  a  man.  But  then  I  find 
Christ  at  the  prow  of  the  boat;  I  hear  him  say: 
''Peace  be  still, '^and  I  see  the  storm  kneeling  at  his  feet 
and  the  tempests  folding  their  wings  in  his  presence; 
he  is  God. 

If  I  have  sorrow  and  trouble  and  want  sympathy  I 
go  and  kneel  down  at  the  back  of  the  boat  and  say: 
"Oh,  Christ,  weary  one  of  Gennesaret,  sympathize  with 
all  my  sorrows,  man  of  Nazareth,  man  of  the  cross.'' 
A  man,  a  man.    But  if  I  want  to  conquer  my  spiritual 


JESU^  T^^  VTIKa  THE  BUND, 


106 


TALMAGE^S  SBT?MONS. 


foes,  if  I  want  to  get  the  victory  over  sin,  death,  and  hell, 
I  come  to  the  front  of  the  b6at,  and  I  kneel  down,  and 
I  sayr'^'Oh,  Lord  Jesns  Christ,  thou  who  dost  hush 
the  tempest,  hush  all  my  grief,  hush  all  my  temptation 
hush  all  my  sin/'  A  man,  a  man;  a  God,  a  God. 
CHRIST  CAN  HUSH  THE  TEMPEST. 

I  learn  once  more  from  this  subject  that  Christ  can 
hush  a  tempest. 

It  did  seem  as  if  ever3^thing  must  go  to  ruin.  The 
disciples  had  given  up  the  idea  of  managing  the  ship, 
the  crew  were  entirely  demoralized,  yet  Christ  rises, 
and  he  puts  his  foot  on  the  storm,  and  it  crouches  at 
his  feet.   Oh,  yes!   Christ  can  hush  the  tempest.  You 
have  had  trouble.   Perhaps  it  was  the  little  child  tak- 
en away  from  you — the  sweetest  child  of  the  household, 
the  one  who  asked  the  most  curious  questions,  and 
stood  around  you  with  the  greatest  fondness,  and  the 
spade  cut  down  through  your  bleeding  heart.  Perhaps 
it  was  an  only  son,  and  your  heart  has  ever  since  been 
like  a  desolated  castle,  the  owls  of  the  night  hooting 
among  the  fallen  arches  and  the  crumbling  stairways. 
Perhaps  it  was  an  aged  mother.   You  always  went  to 
her  with  your  troubles.    She  was  in  your  home  to 
welcome  your  children  into  life,  and  when  they  died 
she  was  there  to  pity  you;  that  old  hand  will  do  you 
no  more  kindness;  that  white  lock  of  hair  you  put  away 
in  the  casket  or  in  the  locket  didn't  look  as  it  usually 
did  when  she  brushed  it  away  from  her  wrinkled  brow 
in  the  home  circle  or  in  the  countrj^  church.    Or  your 
property  gone;  you  said:    ^*I  have  so  much  bank  stock, 
I  have  so  many  government  securities,  I  have  so  many 
houses,  I  have  so  many  farms — all  gone,  all  gone.'' 
Why,  sir,  all  the  storms  that  ever  trnnipled  with  their 
thunders,  all  the  shipwrecks,  have  not  been  worse  than 


'rniA  STORMY  PAJ^SAGE. 


lot 


this  to  you.  Yet  yon  have  not  been  completely  over- 
thrown. Why?  Christ  sa^^s:  I  have  that  Httle  one 
in  my  keeping.  I  can  care  for  him  as  well  as  you  can, 
better  than  you  can,  O  bereaved  mother!  Hushing  the 
tempest.  When  your  property  went  away,  God  said: 
**There  are  treasures  in  heaven,  in  banks  that  never 
break.  Jesus  hushing  the  tempest.  There  is  one 
storm  into  which  we  will  all  have  to  run.  The  moment 
when  we  let  go  of  this  world  and  try  to  take  hold  of 
the  next  we  will  want  all  the  grace  possible.  Yonder 
I  see  a  Christian  soul  rocking  on  the  surges  of  death) 
all  the  powers  of  darkness  seem  let  out  against  that 
soul — the  w^hirling  wave,  the  thunder  of  the  sky,  the 
shriek  of  the  wind,  all  seem  to  unite  together;  but  that 
soul  is  not  troubled  there  is  no  sighing,  there  are  no  tears; 
plenty  of  tears  in  the  room  at  the  departure,  but 
he  weeps  no  tears — calm,  satisfied,  and  peaceful;  all  is 
well.  By  the  flash  of  the  storm  you  see  the  harbor  just 
ahead,  and  you  are  making  for  that  harbor.  All  shall 
be  well,  Jesus  being  our  guide. 

''Into  the  harbor  of  heaven  now  we  glide; 

We're  home  at  last,  home  at  last. 
Softly  we  drift  on  the  bright,  silv'ry  tide, 

We're  home  at  last. 

"Glory  to  God!  all  our  dangers  £ire  o'er, 
We  stand  secure  on  the  glorified  shore; 
Glory  to  God!  we  will  shout  ever  more, 
We'er  home  at  last." 


IN  CANA,OF  GALILEE. 


A  MARRIAGE  FEAST. 


[Delivered  near  Cana,  of  Galliee,  December,  22,  1889.] 
"Thou  hast  kept  the  good  wine  until  now.''  John  ii,  10. 

THE  WEDDING  IN  CANA. 

TANDING  not  far  off  from  the  demolished  town 
^^S^  of  what  was  once  called  Cana  of  Galilee,  I  be- 
^^y//'  think  myself  of  our  Lord's  first  manhood  mira- 
cle, which  has  been  the  astonishment  of  the  ages.  My 
visit  last  week  to  that  place  makes  vivid  in  my  mind 
that  beautiful  occurrence  in  Christ's  ministry.  My  text 
brings  us  to  a  wedding  in  that  village.  It  is  a  wed- 
ding in  common  life,  two  plain  people  having  pledged 
each  other,  hand  and  heart,  and  their  friends  having 

(109) 


110 


taIvMage's  sermons. 


come  in  for  congratulation.  The  jcy  is  not  the  less  be- 
cause there  are  no  pretension.  In  each  other  they  find 
all  the  future  they  want.  The  daisy  in  the  cup  on  the 
table  may  mean  as  much  as  a  score  of  artistic  garlands 
fresli  from  the  hot-house.  When  a  daughter  goes  off 
from  home  with  nothing  but  a  plain  father's  blessing 
and  a  plain  mother's  love  she  is  missed  as  much  as 
though  she  were  a  princess.  It  seems  hard,  after  the 
parents  have  sheltered  her  for  eighteen  years,  that  in  a 
few  short  months  her  affections  should  have.been  car- 
ried off.by  another,  but  mother  remembers  how  it  was 
in  her  own  case  when  she  was  young,  and  so  she  braces 
up  until  the  wedding  has  passed,  and  the  banqueters 
are  gone,  and  she  has  a  good  cry  all  alone. 

THE  MIRACLE  AT  THE  WEDDING. 

Well,  we  are  to-day  at  the  wedding  of  Cana  of  Galilee. 
Jesus  and  his  mother  have  been  invited.  It  is  evident 
that  there  are  more  people  there  than  were  expected. 
Either  some  people  have  come  who  were  not  invited,  or 
more  invitations  have  been  sent  out  than  it  was  sup- 
posed would  be  accepted.  Of  course  there  is  not  enough 
supply  of  wine.  You  know  that  there  is  nothing  more 
embarrassing  to  a  housekeeper  than  a  scant  supply. 
Jesus  sees  the  embarrassment,  and  he  comes  up  immedi- 
ately to  relieve  it.  He  sees  standing  six  water-pots. 
He  orders  the  servants  to  fill  thetji  with  water,  then 
waves  his  hand  over  the  water,  and  immediately  it  is 
wine — real  wine.  Taste  of  it,  and  see  for  yourselves; 
no  logwood  in  it,  no  strychinein  it,  but  first-rate  wine. 
I  will  not  now  be  diverted  to  the  question  so  often  dis- 
cussed in  my  own  country,  whether  it  is  right  to  drink 
wine.  I  am  describing  the  scene  as  it  was.  When  God 
makes  wine  he  makes  the  very  best  wine,  and  130  gal- 
lons of  it  standing  around  in  these  water-pots — wine  so 


A  MARRIAGE  FEAST.  Ill 

good  that^  the  ruler  of  the  feast  tastes  it  and  says: 
*^Why,  this  is  really  better  than  anything  we  have  had! 
Thou  hast  kept  the  good  wine  until  now.' ^  Beautiful 
miracle!  A  prize  was  offered  to  the  person  who  should 
write  the  best  essay  about  the  miracle  in  Cana. 
Long  manuscripts  were  presented  in  the  competition,  but 
a  poet  won  the  prize  by  just  this  one  line  descriptive  of 
the  miracle: 
''The  unconscious  water  saw  its  God  and  blushed." 

THE  WONDERFUL  SYMPATHY  OF  CHRIST. 

We  learn  from  this  miracle,  in  the  first  place,  that 
Christ  has  sympathy  with  housekeepers.  You  might 
have  thought  that  Jesus  would  have  said:  '^I  can  not 
be  bothered  with  household  deficiency  of  wine.  It  is 
not  for  me,  lord  of  heaven,  of  earth,  to  become  caterer 
to  this  feast.  I  have  vaster  things  than  this  to  attend 
to.''  Not  so  said  Jesus.  The  wine  gave  out  and  Jesus, 
by  miraculous  power,  came  to  the  rescue.  Does  there 
ever  come  a  scant  supply  in  your  household?  Have 
you  to  make  a  very  close  calculation?  Is  it  hard  work 
for  you  to  carry  on  things  decently  and  respectably? 
If  so,  don't  sit  down  and  cry;  don't  go  out  and  fret, 
but  go  to  him  who  stood  in  the  house  in  Cana  of  Gali- 
lee. Pray  in  the  parlor!  Pray  in  the  kitchen!  Let 
there  be  no  room  in  your  house  unconsecrated  by  the 
voice  of  prayer.  If  you  have  a  microscope  put  under  it 
one  drop  of  water  and  see  the  insects  floating  about, 
and  when  you  see  that  God  makes  them,  come  to  the 
conclusion  that  he  will  take  care  of  you  and  feed  you — 
Oh,  ye  of  little  faith! 

A  boy  asked  if  he  might  sweep  the  snow  from  the 
steps  of  a  house.  The  lady  of  the  household  said: 
''Yes;  you  seem  verypoor."  Hesays:  ^'I  am  verypoor." 
>he  says;      Don't  you  sometimes  get  discouraged  and 


112  ^        talmage's  sermons. 

feel  that  God  is  going  to  let  you  starve? '^  The  lad 
looked  up  in  the  woman's  face  and  said:  ^ 'Do  you 
think  God  will  let  me  starve  when  I  trust  him  and  then 
do  the  best  I  can?"  Enough  theology  for  older  people. 
Trust  in  God  and  do  the  best  you  can.  Amidst  all  the 
worriments  of  housekeeping  go  to  him;  he  will  help  you 
control  your  temper,  and  supervise  your  domestics, 
and  entertain  your  guests,  and  manage  your  home 
economies.  There  are  hundreds  of  women  weak,  and 
nervous,  and  exhausted  with  the  cares  of  housekeeping. 
I  commend  you  to  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ  as  the  best 
adviser  and  the  most  efficient  aid — the  Lord  Jesus  who 
performed  his  first  miracle  to  relieve  a  housekeeper. 

THE  ABUNDANCE  OF  CHRIST'S  GIVING. 

I  learn  also  from  this  miracle  that  Christ  does  things 
in  abundance.  I  think  a  small  supply  of  wine  would 
have  made  up  for  the  deficiency.  I  think  certainly  they 
must  have  had  enough  for  half  of  the  guests.  One  gal- 
lon of  this  wine  will  do;  certainly  five  gallons  will  be 
enough;  certainly  ten.  But  Jesus  goes  on,  and  he  gives 
them  30  gallons,  and  40  gallons,  and  50  gallons,  and 
70  gallons,  and  100  gallons,  and  130  gallons  of  the 
very  best  wine. 

It  is  just  like  him,  doing  everything  on  the  largest 
and  most  generous  scale.  Does  Christ,  our  creator,  go 
forth  to  make  leaves?  He  makes  them  by  the  whole 
forest  full;  notched  like  the  fern,  or  silvered  like  the  as- 
pen, or  broad  like  the  palm;  thickest  in  the  tropics, 
Oregon  forests. 

Does  he  go  forth  to  make  flowers?  He  makes  plenty 
of  them;  they  flame  from  the  hedge,  they  hang  from  the 
t(>]i  of  the  grapevine  in  blossoms,  they  roll  in  the  blue 
\v:i  vc  of  thc  viol'-^ls,  (iicy  toss  their  white  vsurf  into  the 


114 


talmage's  sermons. 


spiraea — enough  for  every  child's  hand  a  flower,  enough 
to  make  for  every  brow  a  chaplet,  enough  with  beauty 
to  cover  up  the  ghastHness  of  all  the  graves. 

Does  he  go  forth  to  create  water?  He  pours  it  out, 
not  by  the  cup  full,  but  b3^  a  river  full,  a  lake  full,  an 
ocean  full,  pouring  it  out  until  all  the  earth  has  enough 
to  drink'  and  enough  with  which  to  wash. 

Does  Jesus,  our  Lord,  provide  redemption?  It  is  not 
a  little  salvation  for  this  one,  a  little  for  that,  and  a  lit- 
tle for  the  other,  but  enough  for  all — Whosoever  will, 
let  him  come."  Each  man  an  ocean  full  for  himself. 
Promises  for  the  young,  promises  for  the  old,  promises 
for  the  lowl3%  promises  for  the  blind,  for  the  halt,  for 
the  outcast,  for  the  abandoned.  Pardon  for  all,  com- 
fort for  all,  mercy  for  all,  heaven  for  all;  not  merely  a 
cupful  of  gospel  glory,  but  130  gallons.  Ay,  the  tears 
of  godly  repentance  are  all  gathered  up  into  God's 
bottle,  and  some  day,  standing  before  the  throne,  we 
vAll  lift  our  cup  of  delight  and  ask  that  it  be  filled  with 
the  wine  of  heaven,  and  Jesus,  from  that  bottle  of  tears, 
will  begin  to  pour  in  the  cup,  and  we  will  cry:  Stop, 
Jesus,  we  do  not  w^ant  to  drink  our  own  tears  and 
Jesus  will  say :  Know  ye  not  that  the  tears  of  earth 
are  the  wine  of  heaven  ?  "  Sorrow  may  endure,  but  joy 
cometh  in  the  morning. 

TRY  TO  MAKE  OTHERS  HAPPY. 

I  remark  further,  Jesus  does  not  shadow  the  joys  of 
others  with  his  own  griefs.  He  might  have  sat  down  in 
that  wedding  and  said:  have  so  much  trouble,  so 
much  poverty,  so  much  persecution,  and  the  cross  is 
coming;  I  shall  not  rejoice,  and  the  gldom  of  my  face 
and  of  my  sorrows  shall  be  cast  over  all  this  group.'' 
So  said  not  Jesus,  He  said  to  himself:  *^Here  are  two 
persons  starting  out  in  married  life,   Let  it  be  a  joyful 


A  MARRIAGE  FEAST. 


115 


occasion.  I  will  hide  my  own  griefs.  I  will  kindle  their 
joy.'^  There  are  many  not  so  wise  as  that.  I  know  a 
household  where  there  are  many  little  children  where  for 
two  years  the  musical  instrument  has  been  kept  shut 
because  there  has  been  trouble  in  the  house.  Alas  for 
the  folly!  Parents  saying :  *^We  will  have  no  Christ- 
mas tree  this  coming  holiday  because  there  has  been 
trouble  in  the  house.  Hush  that  laughing  up. stairs! 
How  can  there  be  any  joy  when  there  has  been  so  much 
trouble?^*  And  so  they  make  everything  consistently 
doleful,  and  send  their  sons  and  daughters  to  ruin  with 
the  gloom  they  throw  around  them. 

Oh,  my  dear  friends,  do  you  not  know  those  childrry, 
will  have  trouble  enough  of  their  own  after  av/hile?  6e 
glad  they  can  not  appreciate  all  yours.  Keep  bacl  /.he 
cup  of  bitterness  from  your  daughter's  lips.  When  -  our 
head  is  down  in  the  grass  of  the  tomb  poverty  >nay 
come  to  her,  betrayal  to  her,  bereavement  to 
her.  Keep  back  the  sorrows  as  long  as  you 
can.  Do  you  not  know  that  your  son  may, 
after  awhile,  have  his  heart  broken?  Stand 
between  him  and  all  harm.  You  may  not  fight  his  bat- 
tles long;  fight  them  while  you  may.  Throw  not  the 
chill  of  your  own  despondency  over  his  soul ;  rather  be 
like  Jesus,  who  came  to  the  wedding  hiding  his  own 
grief  and  kindling  the  joys  of  others.  So  I  have  seen 
the  sun,  on  a  dark  day,  struggling  amidst  the  clouds, 
black,  ragged,  and  portentious,  but  after  awhile  the 
sun,  with  golden  spa  heaved  back  the  blackness,  and 
the  sun  laughed  to  the  lake,  and  the  lake  laughed  to  the 
sun,  and  from  horizon  to  horizon,  under  the  saffron 
sky,  the  water  was  all  turned  into  wine. 

CHRIST  FAVORS  THE  LUXURIES  OF  LIFE. 

I  learn  from  this  miracle  that  Christ  is  not  impatient 


116  TALMAGE^S  SEiiMOKS. 

with  the  luxuries  of  life.  It  was  not  necessary  that  they 
should  have  that  wine.  Hundreds  of  people  have  been 
married  without  any  wine.  We  do  not  read  that  any 
of  the  other  provisions  fell  short.  When  Christ  made 
the  wine  it  was  not  a  necessity,  but  a  positive  luxury. 
I  do  not  believe  that  he  wants  us  to  eat  hard  bread  and 
sleep  on  hard  mattresses,  unless  we  like  them  the  best. 
I  think,  if  circumstances  will  allow,  we  have  a  right  to 
the  luxuries  of  dress,  the  luxuries  of  diet,  and  the  luxu- 
ries of  residence.  There  is  no  more  religion  in  an  old 
coat  than  in  a  new  one.  We  can  serve  God  drawn  by 
golden-plated  harness  as'certainly  as  when  wegoa-loot. 
Jesus  Christ  will  dwell  with  us  under  a  fine  ceiling  as 
well  as  under  a  thatched  roof,  and  when  you  can  get 
wine  made  out  of  w^ater  drink  as  much  of  it  as  you  can. 

What  is  the  difference  between  a  Chinese  mud  hovel 
'and  an  American  home?  What  is  the  difference  between 
the  rough  bear-skins  of  the  Russian  boor  and  the  outfit 
of  an  American  gentleman?  No  difference  except  that 
which  the  gospel  of  Christ,  directly  or  indirectly,  has 
caused.  When  Christ  shall  have  vanquished  all  the 
ivorld  I  suppose  every  house  will  be  a  mansion,  and 
every  garment  a  robe,  and  every  horse  an  arch-necked 
courser, 'and  every  carraige  a  glittering  vehicle,  and  every 
man  a  king,  and  every  woman  a  queen,  and  the  whole 
earth  a  paradise;  the  glories  of  the  natural  world  har- 
monizing with  the  glories  of  the  material  world  until 
the  very  bells  of  the  horses  shall  jingle  the  praises  of  the 
Lord. 

CHRIST  DOES  NOT  DENY  US  JOYS. 
I  learn  further  from  this  miracle  that  Christ  has  no 
impatience  with  festal  joy,  otherwise  he  would  not  have 
accepted  the  invitation  to  that  wedding.    He  certainly 
would  not  have  done  that  which  increased  the  hilarity. 


A  MARRIAGE  EEAST. 


11? 


There  may  have  been  many  in  that  room  who  were  hap- 
p3^,  but  there  was  not  one  of  them  that  did  so  much 
lor  the  joy  of  the  wedding  party  as  Christ  himself.  He 
w^as  the  chief  of  the  banqueters.  When  the  wine  gave 
out  he  supplied  it,  and  so,  I  take  it,  he  will  not  deny  us 
the  jo\^s  that  are  positively  festal. 

I  think  the  children  of  God  have  more  right  to  laugh 
than  any  other  people  and  to  clap  their  hands  as  loudly. 
There  is  not  a  single  joy  denied  them  that  is  given  to 
any  other  people.  Christianity  does  not  clip  the  wings 
of  the  soul.  Religion  does  not  frost  the  flowers.  What 
is  Christianity?  I  take  it  to  be  simply  a  proclamation 
from  the  throne  of  God  of  emancipation  for  all  the  en- 
slaved, and  if  man  accepts  the  terms  of  that  proclama- 
tion and  becomes  free  has  he  not  a  right  to  be  merry? 
Suppose  a  father  has  an  elegant  mansion  and  large 
grounds?  To  whom  will  he  give  the  first  privilege  of 
these  grounds?  Will  he  say:  ^^My  children,  3^ou  must 
not  walk  through  these  paths,  or  sit  down  under  these 
trees,  or  pluck  this  fruit.  These  are  for  outsiders.  They 
ma}^  walk  in  them.''  No  father  would  say  anything 
like  that.  He  w^ould  say:  *^The  first  privileges  in  all 
the  grounds  and  all  of  my  house  shall  be  for  my  own 
children."  And  yet  men  try  to  make  us  believe  that 
God's  children  are  on  the  limits,  and  the  chief  refresh- 
ments and  enjoyments  of  life  are  for  outsiders  and  not 
for  his  own  children.  It  is  stark  atheism.  There  is  no 
innocent  beverage  too  rich  for  God's  child  to  drink; 
there  is  no  robe  too  costly  for  him  to  wear;  there  is  no 
hilarity  too  great  for  him  to  indulge  in,  and  no  house 
too  splendid  for  him  to  live  in.  He  has  a  right  to  the 
joys  of  earth;  he  shall  have  a  right  to  the  joys  of  heaven. 
Though  tribulation,  and  trial,  and  hardship  may  come 
unto  him  let  him  rejoice.    ''Rejoice  in  the  Lord,  ye 


w 

H 
P3 
P 

M 

M 

CO 


A   MARRIAGE  I  HAST. 


119 


righteous;  and  again  I  say,  rejoice." 

CHRIST  WITH  US  IN  OUR  EXTREMITY—A  STORY. 

I  remark  again  that  Christ  comes  to  lis  in  the  hour  of 
our  extremity.  He  knew  the  wine  was  giving  out  be- 
fore there  was  any  embarrassment  or  mortification. 
Why  did  he  not  perform  the  miracle  sooner  ?  Why  wait 
until  it  was  all  gone  and  no  help  could  come  from  any 
source  and  then  come  in  and  perform  the  miracle  ?  This 
is  Christ's  way,  and  when  he  did  come  in  at  the  hour  of 
extremity  he  made  first-rate  wine,  so  that  they  cried 
mt:  **Thou  hast  kept  the  good  wine  until  now." 
Jesus  in  the  hour  of  extremity !  He  seems  to  prefer  that 
hour. 

In  a  Christian  home  in  Poland  great  poverty  had 
come,  and  on  the  week-day  the  man  was  obliged  to 
move  out  of  the  house  with  his  entire  family.  That 
night  he  knelt  with  his  family  and  prayed  to  God. 
While  they  were  kneeling  in  prayer  there  was  a  tap  on 
the  windo  w-pane.  They  opened  the  window  and  there 
was  a  raven  that  the  family  had  fed  and  trained,  and  in 
its  bill  a  ring  all  set  with  precious  stones,  which  was 
found  out  to  be  a  ring  belonging  to  the  royal  family.  It 
was  taken  up  to  the  king's  residence  and  for  the  honesty 
of  the  man  in  bringing  it  back  he  had  a  house  given  to 
him,  and  a  garden,  and  a  farm.  Who  was  it  that  sent 
the  raven  tapping  on  the  window  ?  The  same  God  that 
sent  the  raven  to  feed  Elijah  by  the  brook  of  Cherith. 
Christ  in  the  hour  of  extremit}^ ! 

You  mourned  over  your  sins.  You  could  not  find  the 
way  out.  You  sat  down  and  said:  "God  will  not  be 
merciful.  He  has  cast  me  off;  "  but  in  that,  the  darkest 
hour  of  your  history,  light  broke  from  the  throne,  and 
Jesus  said ''O  wanderer,  come  lirnie.  I  have  seen  all 
thy  sorrows.    In  tUi^;,  the  ^  thy  extremity,  I  of> 


120 


talmagk's  skrjvions. 


fer  thee  pardon  and  everlasting  life ! 

Trouble  came.  You  were  almost  torn  to  pieces  by 
that  trouble.  You  braced  yourself  up  against  it.  You 
said  :  I  will  be  a  stoic,  and  will  not  care ; but  before 
you  had  got  through  making  the  resolution  it  broke 
down  under  you.  You  felt  that  all  your  resources  were 
gone,  and  then  Jesus  came.  '^In  the  fourth  watch  of 
the  night,"  the  bible  says,  Jesus  came  walking  on  the 
sea."  Why  did  he  not  come  in  the  first  watch?  or  in 
the  second  watch  ?  or  in  the  third  watch  ?  I  do  not 
know.  He  came  in  the  fourth,  and  gave  deliverance  to 
his  disciples.  Jesus  in  the  last  extremity! 

I  wonder  if  it  will  be  so  in  our  very  last  extremity. 
We  shall  fall  suddenly  sick,  and  doctors  will  come,  but 
in  vain.  Something  will  say :  You  must  go."  No  one 
to  hold  us  back,  but  the  hands  of  eternity  stretched  out 
to  pull  us  on.  What  then?  Jesus  will  come  to  us,  and 
as  we^ay,  "Lord  Jesus,  I  am  afraid  of  that  water;  I 
can  not  wade  through  to  the  other  side,"  he  will  say. 
Take  hold  of  my  arm ;  "  and  we  will  take  hold  of  his 
arm,  and  then  he  will  put  his  foot  in  the  surf  of  the 
water,  taking  us  down  deeper,  deeper,  deeper,  and  our 
soul  will  cr}^ :  '^AUthy  waves  and  billows  have  gone 
over  me."  They  cover  the  feet,  come  to  the  knee,  pass 
the  girdle,  and  come  to  the  head,  and  our  soul  cries  out; 
'^Lord  Jesus  Christ,  I  cannot  hold  thine  arm  any 
longer."  Then  Jesus  will  turn  around,  throw  both  his 
arms  about  us,  and  set  us  on  the  beach,  far  beyond  the 
tossing  of  the  billows.  Jesus  in  the  last  extremity. 

JESUS  INVITES  US  TO  A  GRANDER  WEDDING. 

That  wedding  scene  is  gone  now.  The  wedding-ring 
has  been  lost,  the  tankards.have  been  broken,  the  house 
is  down,  but  JcsMS  invites  us  to  a  grander  wedding. 
You  know  that  the  bible  says  that  the  church  is  the 


A  MARRIAGE  FEASf . 


121 


Iambus  wife,  and  the  Lord  will  after  awhile  come  to 
fetch  her  home,  There  will  be  gleaming  of  torches  in 
the  sky,  and  the  trumpets  of  God  will  ravish  the  air 
with  their  music,  and  the  church,  robed  in  white,  will 
put  aside  her  veil,  and  look  up  into  the  face  of  her  Lord 
the  king,  and  the  bridegroom  will  say  to  the  bride : 

Thou  hast  been  faithful  all  these  years  !  The  mansion 
is  ready !  Home  home !  Thou  art  fair,  my  love  And 
then  he  shall  put  upon  her  brow  the  crown  of  domin- 
ion, and  table  wall  be  spread,  and  it  will  reach  across 
the  skies,  and  the  mighty  ones  of  heaven  will  come  in, 
garlanded  with  beauty  and  striking  their  cymbals ;  and 
the  bridegroom  and  the  bride  will  stand  at  the  head  of 
the  table,  and  the  banqueters,  looking  up,  will  wonder 
and  admire,  and  say :  That  is  Jesus  the  bridegroom . 
But  the  scar  on  his  brow  is  covered  with  the  coronet, 
and  the  stab  in  his  side  is  covered  with  a  robe !  ^'  and 

That  is  the  bride!  The  weariness  of  her  earthly 
woe  lost  in  the  flush  of  this  wedding  triumph ! 

There  will  be  wine  enough  at  that  wedding ;  not  com- 
ing up  from  the  poisoned  vats  of  earth,  but  the  vine- 
yards of  God  will  press  their  ripest  clusters,  and  the  cups 
and  the  tankards  will  blush  to  the  brim  with  the 
heavenly  vintage,  and  then  all  the  banqueters  will  drink 
standing.  Esther,  having  come  up  from  the  bacchanal- 
ian revelry  of  Ahasuerus,  where  a  thousand  lords  feas- 
ted, will  be  there.  And  the  queen  of  Sheba,  from  the 
banquet  of  Solomon,  will  be  there.  And  the  mother  of 
Jesus,  from  the  wedding  in  Cana,  will  be  there.  And 
they  all  will  agree  that  the  earthly  feasting  w^as  poor 
compared  with  that.  Then,  lifting  their  chalices  in  that 
holy  light,  they  shall  cry  to  the  Lord  of  the  feast: 

Thou  hast  kept  the  good  wine  until  now.'' 


IN  BEYROOT. 


THE  8KV  SNTHEM. 


[A  Christmas  Sermon  delivered  at  Beyroot,  Palestine,  December,  24,  1889  ] 
Glory  to  God  in  the  highest ^  and  on  earth,  peace,  good  will  to- 
ward men^  Luke,  a y  14. 

CHRISTMAS  EVE  IN  PALESTINE. 
T  last  I  have  what  I  longed  for,  a  Christmas 
eve  in  the  Holy  land.  This  is  the  time  of  year 
^  ^  that  Christ  landed.  He  was  a  December  Christ. 
This  is  the  chill  air  through  which  he  descended.  I 
look-up  through  these  Christmas  skies,  and  I  see  no 
loosened  star  hastening  southward  to  halt  above  Beth- 
lehem, but  all  the  stars  suggest  the  star  of  Bethlehem, 

(123) 


124 


talmage's  sermons. 


No  more  need  that  any  of  them  run  along  the  sky  to 
point  downward.  In  quietude  they  kneel  at  the  feet  of 
him  who,  though  once  an  exile,  is  now  enthroned  for- 
ever. Fresh  up  from  Bethlehem  I  am  full  of  the  scenes 
suggested  by  a  visit  to  that  village.  You  know  that 
whole  region  of  Bethlehem  is  famous  in  bible  story. 
There  were  the  waving  harvests  of  Boaz  in  which  Ruth 
gleaned  for  herself  and  weeping  Naomi.  There  David 
the  warrior  with  thirty  and  three  men  of  unheard  of 
self-denial  broke  through  the  Philistine  army  to  get 
him  a  drink.  It  was  to  that  region  that  Joseph  and 
Mary  came  to  have  their  names  enrolled  in  the  census. 
That  is  what  the  scripture  means  when  it  says  they 
came  to  be  taxed,.''  for  people  did  not  in  those  days 
rush  after  the  assessors  of  tax  any  more  than  they 
now  do. 

The  village  inn  was  crowded  with  the  strangers  who 
had  come  up  by  the  command  of  government  to  have 
their  names  in  the  cenr'us,  so  that  Joseph  and  Mary 
were  obliged  to  lodge  in  the  stables.  You  have  seen 
some  of  those  large  stone  buildings  in  the  center  of 
which  the  camels  were  kept,  while  running  out  from 
this  center  in  all  directions  there  were  rooms,  in  one  of 
which  Jesus  was  born.  Had  his  parents  been  more 
showily  appareled,  I  have  no  doubt  they  would  have 
found  more  comfortable  entertainment.  That  night  in 
the  fields  the  shepherds,  with  crook  and  kindled  fires, 
were  watching  their  flocks,  when  hark  to  the  sound  of 
voices  strangely  sweet!  Can  it  be  that  the  maidens  of 
Bethlehem  have  come  out  to  serenade  the  weary  shep- 
herds? But  now  a  light  stoops  upon  them  like  the 
morning,  so  that  the  flocks  arise,  shaking  their  snowy 
flet'ce  and  bleating  to  their  drowsy  young.  The  heavens 
are  filled  with  armies  of  light,  and  the  earth  quakes 
under  the  harmony  as,  echoed  back  from  cloud  to  cloud. 


THE  SKY  ANTHEM.  125 


it  rings  over  the  midnight  hills:  * 'Glory  to  God  in  the 
highest,  and  on  earth  peace,  good  will  to  men!"  It 
seems  the  crown  of  royalty,  and  dominion,  and  power 
which  Christ  left  behind  him  was  hung  on  the  sky  in 
sight  of  Bethlehem.  Who  knows  but  that  that  crov/n 
may  have  been  mistaken  by  the  wise  men  for  the  star 
running  and  pointing  downward. 

INDIGENCE  NOT  DEGREDA.TION. 

My  subject,  in  the  first' place,  impresses  me  with  the 
fact  that  indigence  i:^  net  always  significant  of  degra- 
dation !  When  princes  are  born  heralds  announce  it, 
and  cannon  thunder  it,  and  flags  wave  it,  and  illumina- 
tions set  cities  on  fire  with  the  tidings.  Some  of  us  in 
England  or  America  remember  the  time  of  rejoicing 
when  the  prince  of  Wales  was  born.  You  can  remem- 
ber the  gladness  throughout  Christendom  at  the  nativ- 
ity in  the  palace  at  Madrid.  But  when  our  glorious 
prince  was  bom  there  was  no  rejoicing  on  earth.  Poor 
and  growing  poorer,  yet  the  heavenly  recognition  that 
Christmas  night  shows  the  truth  of  the  proposition 
that  indigence  is  not  always  significant  of  degradation. 

In  all  ages  there  have  been  great  hearts  throbbing 
under  rags,  tender  sympathies  under  rough  exterior, 
gold  in  the  quartz,  Parian  marble  in  the  quarry,  and  in 
every  stable  of  privation  wonders  of  excellence  that 
have  been  the  joy  of  the  heavenly  host.  All  the  great 
deliverers  of  literature  and  of  nations  were  bom  in 
homes  without  affluence,  and  from  their  own  privation 
leamed  to  speak  and  fight  for  the  oppressed.  Many  a 
man  has  held  up  his  pine-knot  light  from  the  wildemess 
until  all  nations  and  generations  have  seen  it,  and  off" 
of  his  hard  crust  of  penury  has  broken  the  bread  of 
knowledge  and  religion  for  the  starving  millions  of  the 


126 


talmage's  sermons. 


race.  Poetry,  and  science,  and  literature,  and  com- 
merce, and  laws,  and  constitutions,  and  liberty,  like 
Christ,  were  born  in  a  manger.  All  the  great  thoughts 
which  have  decided  the  destiny  of  nations  started  in 
obscure  corners,  and  had  Herods  who  wanted  to  slay 
them,  and  Iscariots  who  betrayed  them,  and  rabbles 
that  crucified  them,  and  sepulchcrs  that  confined  them 
until  they  burst  forth  in  glorious  resurrection.  Strong 
character,  like  the  rhododendron,  in  an  Alpine  plant 
that  grows  faster  in  the  storm.  Men  are  like  wheat, 
worth  all  the  more  for  being  flailed.  Some  of  the  most 
useful  people  would  never  have  come  to  positions  of 
usefulness  had  they  not  been  ground  and  pounded  and 
hammered  in  the  foundry  of  disaster.  When  I  see  Moses 
coming  up  from  the  ark  of  bulrushes  to  be  the  greatest 
lawgiver  of  the  ages,  and  Amos  from  tending  the  herds 
to  make  Israel  tremble  with  his  prophecies,  and  David 
from  the  sheepcot  to  sway  the  poet^s  pen  and  the 
king's  scepter,  and  Peter  from  the  fishing  net  to  be  the 
great  preacher  at  the  Pentecost,  T  find  proof  of  the 
truth  of  my  proposition  that  indigence  is  not  always 
significant  of  degradation. 

DUTY  AND  BLESSING. 

My  subject  also  impresses  me  with  the  thought  that 
it  is  while  at  our  useful  occupations  that  we  have  the 
divine  manifestations.  Had  those  shepherds  gone  that 
night  into  Bethlehem  and  risked  their  flocks  among  the 
wolves  they  would  not  have  heard  the  song  of  the 
angels.  In  other  words,  that  man  sees  most  of  God  and 
heaven  who  minds  his  own  business.  We  all  have  our 
posts  of  duty,  and  standing  there  God  appears  to  us. 
We  are  all  shepherds  or  shepherdesses,  and  we  have  our 
flocks  of  cares,  and  annoyances,  and  anxieties,  and  we 
must  tend  them. 


THE  SKY  ANTHEM. 


127 


We  sometimes  hear  very  good  people  say  :  If  I  had 
a  month  or  a  year  or  two  to  do  nothing  but  attend  to 
reKgious  things  I  would  be  a  great  deal  better  than  I 
am  now."  You  are  mistaken.  Generally  the  best  peo- 
ple are  the  busy  people.  Elisha  was  plowing  in  the 
field  when  the  prophetic  mantle  fell  upon  him.  Mat- 
thew was  attending  to  his  custom-house  duties  when 
Christ  commanded  him  to  follow.  James  and  John 
were  mending  their  nets  when  Christ  called  them  to  be 
fishers  of  men.  Had  they  been  snoring  in  the  sun  Christ 
would  not  have  called  their  indolence  into  the  apostle- 
ship.  Gideon  was  at  work  with  the  flail  on  the  thrash- 
ing floor  when  he  saw"  the  angel.  Saul  was  with  great 
fatigue  hunting  up  the  lost  asses  when  he  found  the 
crown  of  Israel.  The  prodigal  son  would  never  have 
reformed  and  wanted  to  have  returned  to  his  father's 
house  if  he  had  not  first  gone  into  business;  though  it 
was  swine-feeding.  Not  once  out  of  a  hundred  times 
will  a  lazy  man  become  a  Christian.  Those  who  have 
nothing  to  do  are  in  very  unfavorable  circumstances  for 
the  receiving  of  divine  manifestations.  It  is  not  when 
you  are  in  idleness,  but  when  you  are,  like  the  Bethle- 
hem shepherds,  watching  your  flocks,  that  the  glory  de- 
scends and  there  is  joy  among  the  angels  of  God  over 
your  soul  penitent  and  forgiven. 

RELIGION  IS  JOYFUL. 
My  subject  also  strikes  at  the  delusion  that  the  relig- 
ion Ox*  Christ  is  dolorous  and  grief-infusing,  fhe  music 
that  broke  through  the  midnight  heavens  was  not  a 
dirge,  but  an  anthem.  It  shook  joy  over  the  hills.  It 
not  only  dropped  upon  the  shepherds  but  it  sprang  up- 
ward among  the  thrones.  The  robe  of  a  Saviour's 
righteousness  is  not  black.  The  Christian  life  is  not 
made  up  of  weeping  and  cross-bearing  and  war-wag- 


128 


TALMAGE^S  SERMONS. 


iiig.  Through  the  revelation  of  that  Christmas  night 
I  find  that  rehgion  is  not  a  groan  but  a  song.  In  a 
world  of  sin  and  sick-bed  and  sepulchers  we  must  have 
trouble,  but  in  the  darkest  night  the  heavens  part  with 
angelic  song.  You  may,  like  Paul,  be  shipwrecked,  but 
I  exhort  you  to  be  of  good  cheer,  for  you  shall  all  escape 
safe  to  the  land.  Religion  does  not  show  itself  in  the 
elongation  of  the  face  and  the  cut  of  the  garb.  The 
Pharisee  who  puts  his  religion  into  his  phylactery  has 
none  left  for  his  heart.  Fretfulness  and  complaining  do 
not  belong  to  the  family  of  Christian  graces  which 
move  into  the  heart  when  the  devil  moves  out.  Chris- 
tianity does  not  frown  upon  amusements  and  recrea- 
tions. It  is  not  a  cynic,  it  is  not  a  shrew,  it  chokes  no 
laughter,  it  quenches  no  light,  it  defaces  no  art.  Among 
the  happy  it  is  the  happiest.  It  is  just  as  much  at  home 
on  the  play  ground  as  it  is  in  the  church.  It  is  just  as 
graceful  in  the  charade  as  it  is  in  the  psalm-book.  It 
sings  just  as  well  in  Surrey  gardens  as  it  prays  in  St. 
Paul's.  Christ  died  that  we  might  live.  Christ  walked 
that  we  might  ride.    Christ  wept  that  we  might  laugh. 

THE  MANGER  AND  THRONE. 

Again,  my  subject  impresses  me  with  the  fact  that 
glorious  endings  sometimes  have  very  humble  begin- 
nings. The  straw  pallet  was  the  starting  point,  but 
the  shout  in  the  midnight  sky  revealed  what  would  be 
the  glorious  consummation.  Christ  on  Mary's  lap, 
Christ  on  the  throne  of  universal  dominion — what  an 
humble  starting!  What  a  glorious  ending!  Grace  be- 
gins on  a  small  scale  in  the  heart.  You  see  only  men  as 
trees  walking.  The  grace  of  God  in  the  heart  is  a  feeble 
spark,  and  Christ  has  to  keep  both  hands  over  it  lest 
it  be  blown  out.  What  an  humble  beginning!  But 
look  at  the  same  man  when  he  has  entered  heaven.  No 


THE  SKY  ANTHEM. 


129 


crown  able  to  express  his  royalty.  No  palace  able  to 
express  his  wealth.  No  scepter  able  to  express  his  power 
and  his  dominion .  Drinking  from  the  fountain  that  drips 
from  the  everlasting  rock.  Among  the  harpers  harping 
with  their  harps.  On  a  sea  of  glass  mingled  with  fire. 
Before  the  throne  of  God,  to  go  no  more  out  forever. 
The  spark  of  grace  that  Christ  had  to  keep  both  hands 
over  lest  it  come  to  extinction,  having  flamed  up  into 
honor,  glory  and  immortality.  What  humble  starting! 
What  glorious  consummation! 


The  new  testament  church  was  on  a  small  scale. 
Fishermen  watched  it.  Against  the  uprising  walls 
crashed  infernal  enginery.  The  world  said  anathema. 
Ten  thousand  people  rejoiced  at  every  seeming  defeat 
and  said:  ''Aha!  aha!  so  we  would  have  it.''  Martyrs 
on  fire  cried:  ''How  long,  O  Lord,  how  long?''  Very 
humble  starting,  but  see  the  difference  at  the  consum- 
mation, when  Christ  with  his  almighty  arm  has  struck 
off  the  last  chain  of  human  bondage,  and  Himalayas 


130 


talmage's  sermons. 


shall  be  Mount  Zion,  and  Pyrenees  Moriah,  and  oceans 
the  walking  place  of  him  who  trod  the  wave  cliffs  of 
stormed  Tiberias,  and  island  shall  call  to  island,  sea  to 
sea,  continent  to  continent,  and  the  song  of  the  world's 
redemption  rising,  the  heavens,  like  a  great  sounding 
board,  shall  strike  back  the  shout  of  salvation  to  the 
earth  until  it  rebounds  again  to  the  throne  of  God,  and 
all  heaven,  rising  on  their  thrones  beat  time  with  their 
scepters.  Oh,  what  an  humble  beginning!  What  a 
glorious  ending!  Throne  linked  to  a  manger,  heavenly 
mansions  to  a  stable. 

THE  DOUBLE  MISSION  OF  CHRIST. 

My  subject  also  impresses  me  with  the  effect  of  Christ's 
mission  upward  and  downward.  Glory  to  God,  peace 
to  man.  When  God  sent  his  son  into  the  world  angels 
discovered  something  new  in  God,  something  they  had 
never  seen  before.  Not  power,  not  wisdom,  not  love. 
They  knew  all  that  before.  But  when  God  sent  his  son 
into  this  world  then  the  angels  saw  the  spirit  of  self- 
denial  in  God,  the  spirit  of  self-sacrifice  in  God.  It  is 
easier  to  love  an  angel  on  his  throne  than  a  thief  on 
the  cross,  a  seraph  in  his  worship  than  an  adul tress 
in  her  crime.  When  the  angels  saw  God — the  God  who 
would  not  allow  the  most  insignificant  angel  in  heaven 
to  be  hurt — give  up  his  son,  his  only  son,  they  saw 
something  that  they  had  never  thought  of  before,  and 
I  do  not  wonder  that  when  Christ  started  out  on  that 
pilgrimage  the  angels,  in  heaven  clapped  their  wings  in 
triumph  and  called  on  all  the  hosts  of  heaven  to  help 
them  celebrate  it,  and  sang  so  loud  that  the  Bethlehem 
shepherds  heard  it:     Glory  to  God  in  the  highest./' 

But  it  was  also  to  be  a  mission  of  peace  to  man.  In- 
finite holiness — accumulated  depravity.  How  could  they 
ever  come  together?    The  gospel  bridges  over  the  dis- 


THE  SKY  ANTHEM. 


131 


tance.  It  brings  God  to  us.  It  takes  us  to  God.  God 
in  us,  and  we  in  God.  Atonement!  Atonement!  Jus- 
tice satisfied,  sin  forgiven,  eternal  life  secured,  heaven 
built  on  a  manger. 

But  it  was  to  be  the  pacification  of  all  individual  and 
international  animosities.  What  a  sound  this  word 
of  peace  had  in  the  Roman  Empire  that  boasted  of  the 
number  of  people  it  had  massacred,  that  prided  itself 
on  the  number  of  the  slain,  that  rejoiced  at  the  tremb- 
ling providences.  Sicily,  and  Sardinia,  and  Macedonia, 
and  Egypt  had  bowed  to  her  sword  and  crouched  at 
the  cry  of  her  war  eagles.  She  gave  her  chief  honor  to 
Scipio,  and  Pabius,  and  Caesar — all  men  of  blood.  What 
contempt  they  must  have  had  there  for  the  penniless, 
unarmed  Christ  in  the  garb  of  a  Nazarene,  starting  out 
to  conquer  all  nations.  There  never  was  a  place  on 
earth  where  that  word  peace  sounded  so  offensively  to 
the  ears  of  the  multitudes  as  in  the  Roman  empire.  They 
did  not  want  peace.  The  greatest  music  they  ever 
heard  was  the  clanking  chains  of  their  captives.  If  all 
the  blood  that  has  been  shed  in  battle  could  be  gathered 
together  it  would  bear  up  a  navy.  The  club  that 
struck  Abel  to  the  earth  has  its  echo  in  the  butcheries 
of  all  ages.  Edmund  Burke,  who  gave  no  wild  statis- 
tics, said  that  there  had  been  spent  in  slaughter  $35,- 
000,000,000  or  what  would  be  equal  to  that,  but  he 
had  not  seen  into  our  times,  when  in  our  own  day,  in 
America,  we  expended  $3,000,000,000  in  civil  war. 

THE  VISION  OF  BATTLES. 
Oh,  if  we  could  now  take  our  position  on  some  high 
point  and  see  the  world's  armies  march  past!  There  go 
the  hosts  of  Israel  through  a  score  of  Red  seas — one  of 
water,  the  rest  of  blood.  There  go  Cyrus  and  his  army, 
with  infuriate  yell  rejoicing  over  the  fall  of  the  gates  of 


106 


THE  SKY  ANTHEM. 


133 


Babylon.  There  goes  Alexandei ,  leading  forth  his  hosts, 
and  conquering  all  the  world  but  himself,  the  earth  reel- 
ing with  the  battle  gash  of  Arbela  and  Persepolis .  There 
goes  Ferdinand  Cortes,  leaving  his  butchered  enemies 
on  the  table-lands,  once  fragrant  with  vanilla  and  cov- 
ered over  with  groves  of  flowering  cacao.  There  goes 
the  great  Frenchman,  leading  his  army  down  through 
Egypt  like  one  of  its  plagues  and  up  through  Russia 
like  one  of  its  own  icy  blasts .  Yonder  is  the  grave  trench 
under  the  shadow  of  Sebastopol.  There  are  the  ruins 
of  Delhi  and  Allahabad,  and  yonder  are  the  inhuman 
Sepoys  and  the  brave  regiments  under  Havelock  aveng- 
ing the  insulted  flag  of  Britain,  while  cut  right  through 
the  heart  of  my  native  land  is  a  trench  in  which  there 
lie  1,000,000  northern  and  southern  dead. 

Oh,  the  tears!  Oh,  the  blood!  Oh,  the  long  marches! 
Oh,  the  hospital  wounds!  Oh,  the  martyrdom!  Oh,  the 
death!  But  brighter  than  the  light  which  flashed  on 
all  these  swords  and  shields  and  musketry  is  the  light 
that  fell  on  Bethlehem,  and  louder  than  the  bray  of  the 
trumpets,  and  the  neighing  of  the  charges,  and  the 
crash  of  the  walls,  and  the  groaning  ofthe  dying  armies, 
is  the  song  that  unrolls  this  moment  from  the  sky, 
sweet  as  though  all  the  bells  of  heaven  rung  a  jubilee. 

Peace  on  earth,  good  will  toward  men.''  Oh,  when 
will  the  day  come — God  hasten  it!  — when  the  swords 
shall  be  turned  into  plowshares,  and  the  fortresses  shall 
be  remodeled  into  churches,  and  the  men  of  blood  bat- 
tling for  renown  shall  become  good  soldiers  for  Jesus 
Christ,  and  the  cannon  now  striking  down  whole 
columns  of  death  shall  thunder  the  victories  of  the  truth. 

When  we  think  of  the  whole  world  saved  we  are  apt 
to  think  of  the  few  people  that  now  inhabit  it.  Only  a 
very  few  compared  with  the  population  to  come.  And 


134 


TALMAGE'S  SERMONS. 


what  a  small  part  cultivated.  Do  you  know  it  has  been 
authentically  estimated  that  three-fourths  of  Europe  is 
yet  all  barrenness,  and  that  nine  hundred  and  ninety- 
nine  one-thousandth  part  of  the  entire  globe  is  unculti- 
vated? This  is  all  to  be  cultivated,  all  inhabited,  and 
all  gospelized.  Oh,  what  tears  of  repentance  when 
nations  begin  to  weep !  Oh,  what  supplications  when 
continents  begin  to  pray!  Oh,  what  rejoicing  when 
hemispheres  begin  to  sing !  Churches  will  worship  on 
the  places  where  this  very  hour  smokes  the  blood  of 
human  sacrifice,  and  wandering  through  the  snake-in- 
fested jungles  of  Africa  Christ's  heel  will  bruise  the 
serpent's  head.  Oh,  when  the  trumpet  of  salvation 
shall  be  sounded  everywhere  and  the  nations  are  re- 
deemed, a  light  will  fall  upon  every  town  brighter  than 
that  which  fell  upon  Bethlehem,  and  more  overwhelm- 
ing than  the  song  that  fell  on  the  pasture  fields  where 
the  flocks  fed  there  will  be  a  song  louder  than  the  voice 
of  the  storm-lifted  oceans,  Glory  to  God  in  thehigest,'' 
and  from  all  nations,  and  kindred,  and  people,  and 
tongues  will  come  the  response :  And  on  earth  peace, 
and  good  will  toward  men ! '' 

A  TOUCHING  STORY. 
On  this  Christmas  we  bring  you  good  tidings  of  great 
joy.  Pardon  for  all  sin,  comfort  for  all  trouble,  and 
life  for  the  dead.  Shall  we  now  take  this  Christ  into 
our  hearts  ?  The  time  is  passing.  This  is  the  closing  of 
the  year.  How  the  time  speeds  by.  Put  your  hand  on 
your  heart— one,  two,  three.  Three  times  less  it  will 
beat.  Life  is  passing  like  gazelles  over  the  plain.  Sor- 
rows hover  like  petrels  over  the  sea.  Death  swoops 
like  a  vulture  from  the  mountains.  Misery  rolls  up  to 
our  ears  like  waves,  Heavenly  songs  fall  to  us  like 
^tars, 


THE  SKV  ANl^ttEM. 


135 


I  Wish  you  a  merry  Christmas,  not  with  worldly  dis- 
pensations, but  merry  with  gospel  gladness,  merry  with 
pardoned  sin,  merry  with  hope  of  reunion  in  the  skies 
with  all  your  loved  ones  who  have  preceded  you.  In 
that  grandest  and  best  sense  a  merry  Christmas. 

And  God  grant  that  in  our  final  moment  we  may  have 
as  bright  a  vision  as  did  the  dying  girl  when  she  said : 

Mother^* — pointing  with  her  thin,  white  hand  through 
the  window— Mother,  what  is  that  beautiful  land  out 
yonder  beyond  the  mountains,  the  high  mountains?*' 
**0h,''  said  the  mother,  my  darling,  there  are  no 
mountains  within  sight  of  our  home/'  '^Oh,  yes,',  she 
said,  Don^t  you  see  them — that  beautiful  land  beyond 
the  mountains  out  there,  just  beyond  the  high  moun- 
tains?'' 

The  mother  looked  down  into  the  face  of  her  dying 
child  and  said :  My  dear  I  think  that  must  be  heaven 
that  you  see."  **Well,  then,"  she  said,  father,  you 
come,  and  with  your  strong  arms  carry  me  over  those 
mountains  into  that  beautiful  land  beyond  the  high 
mountains."  **No,"  said  the  weeping  father,  **my  dar- 
ling, I  can't  go  with  you."  Well,"  she  said,  clapping 
her  hands,  never  mind;  never  mind;  I  see  yonder  a 
shining  one  coming.  He  is  coming  now,  in  his  strong 
arms  to  carry  me  over  the  mountains  to  the  beautiful 
land—over  the  mountains,  over  the  high  mountains." 


IN  VIENNA. 


"1 


THE  HSLF  NOT  TOLD. 

[Delivered  in  Vienna,  January,  5th.,  1890.] 
"Behold,  the  half  was  not  told  me:\  I  Kings  x.,  7. 

THE  TWO  CIRCLES. 

PPEARING  before  you  to-day,  my  mind  yet  agi- 
tated with  the  scenery  of  the  Holy  land,  from 
which  we  have  just  arrived,  you  will  expect  mc 
to  revert  to  some  of  the  scenes  once  enacted  there. 
Mark  a  circle  around  Lake  Galilee,  and  another  circle 
around  Jerusalem,  and  you  describe  the  two  regions  in 
which  cluster  memories  of  more  events  than  in  any 
other  two  circles.  Jerusalem  was  a  spell  of  fascination 
that  will  hold  me  the  rest  of  my  life.  Solomon  had  re- 
solved that  that  city  should  be  the  center  of  all  sacred, 
regal,  and  commercial  magnificence.  He  set  himself  to 
work,  and  monopolized  the  surrounding  desert  as  a 
highway  for  his  caravans.  He  built  the  city  of  Palmyra 
around  one  of  the  principal  wells  of  the  east,  so  that 
all  the  long  trains  of  merchandise  from  the  east  were 
obliged  to  stop  there,  pay  toll,  and  leave  part  of  their 
wealth  in  the  hands  of  Solomon^s  merchants.  He  man- 
ned the  fortress  Thapsacus  at  the  chief  ford  of  the 
Euphrates  and  put  under  guard  everything  that  passed 
there.  The  three  great  products  of  Palestine — wine 
pre§g5ed  from  the  richest  clusters  and  celebrated  all  the 

(137) 


138 


talmage's  sermons. 


world  over ;  oil,  which  in  that  hot  country  is  the  entire 
substitute  for  butter  and  lard,  and  was  pressed  from 
the  olive  branches  until  every  tree  in  the  country  be- 
came an  oil-well,  and  honey,  which  was  the  entire  sub- 
stitute for  sugar — these  three  great  products  of  the 
country  Solomon  exported  and  received  in  return  fruits* 
and  precious  woods,  and  the  animals  of  every  clime. 

He  went  down  to  Ezion-geber  and  ordered  a  fleet  of 
ships  to  be  constructed,  oversaw  the  workmen,  and 
watched  the  launching  of  the  flotilla  which  was  to  go 
out  on  more  than  a  ^^ear's  voyage  to  bring  home  the 
wealth  of  the  then  known  world.  He  heard  that  the 
Egyptian  horses  were  large  and  swift  and  long-maned 
and  round-limbed,  and  he  resolved  to  purchase  them, 
giving  $85  apiece  for  them,  putting  the  best  of  these 
horses  in  his  own  stall,  and  selling  the  surplus  to  foreign 
potentates  at  great  profit. 

He  heard  that  there  was  the  best  of  timber  on  Mount 
Lebanon  and  he  sent  out  180,000  men  to  hew  down 
the  forest  and  drag  the  timber  through  the  mountain 
gorges,  to  construct  it  into  rafts  to  be  floated  to  Joppa 
and  from  thence  to  be  drawn  by  ox-teams  twenty-five 
miles  across  the  land  to  Jerusalem.  He  heard  that  there 
were  beautiful  flowers  in  other  lands.  .  He  sent  for  them, 
planted  them  in  his  own  garden,  and  to  this  very  day 
there  are  flowers  found  in  the  ruins  of  that  city  such  as 
are  to  be  found  in  no  other  part  of  Palestine,  the  lineal 
descendants  of  the  very  flowers  that  Solomon  planted. 
He  heard  that  in  foreign  groves  there  were  birds  of 
richest  voice  and  most  luxuriant  wing.  He  sent  out 
people  to  catch  them  and  bring  them  there,  and  he  put 
them  into  cages. 

Stand  back  now  and  see  this  long  train  of  camels 
coming  up  to  the  king's  gate,  and  the  ox-trains  from 


TnU  MAT.F  NOT  TOLD. 


139 


Egypt,  gold  and  silver  and  precious  stones,  and  beasts 
of  every  hoof,  and  birds  of  every  wing,  and  fish  of  every 
scale !  See  the  peacocks  strut  under  the  cedars,  and  the 
horsemen  run,  and  the  chariots  v^heel!  Hark  to  the 
orchestra !  Gaze  upon  the  dance !  Not  stopping  to  look 
into  the  wonders  of  the  temple  step  right  on  to  the 
causeway,  and  pass  up  to  Solomon^s  palace. 

A  VISION  OF  BEAUTY. 
Here  we  find  ourselves  amid  a  collection  of  buildings 
on  which  the  king  had  lavished  the  wealth  of  many  em- 
pires. The  'genius  of  Hiram,  the  architect,  and  of  the 
other  artists  is  here  seen  in  the  long  line  of  corridors, 
and  the  suspended  gallery,  and  the  approach  to  the 
throne;  Traceried  wdndow  opposite  traceried  window. 
Bronzed  ornaments  bursting  into  lotus,  and  lily,  and 
pomegranate.  Chapiters  surrounded  by  network  of 
leaves  in  which  imitation  fruit  seemed  suspended  as 
in  hanging  baskets.  Three  branches — so  Josephus  tells 
us — three  branches  sculptured  on  the  marble,  so  thin 
and  subtle  that  even  the  leaves  seemed  to  quiver.  A 
laver  capable  of  holding  500  barrels  of  water  on  600 
brazen  ox  heads,  which  gushed  with  water  and  filled 
the  whole  place  with  coolness  and  crystalline  brightness 
and  musical  splash.  Ten  tables  chased  with  chariot 
wheel,  and  lion,  and  cherubim.  Solomon  sat  on  a 
throne  of  ivory.  At  the  seating  place  of  the  throne,  on 
each  end  of  the  steps,  a  brazen  lion.  Why,  my  friends, 
in  that  place  they  trimmed  their  candles  with  snuffers 
of  gold,  and  they  cut  their  fruits  with  knives  of  gold, 
and  they  washed  their  faces  in  basins  of  gold,  and  they 
scooped  out  the  ashes  with  shovels  of  gold,  and  they 
stirred  the  altar  fires  with  tongs  of  gold.  Gold  reflected 
in  the  w^ater !  Gold  flashed  from  the  apparel !  Gold 
blazing  in  the  crown  !   Gold,  gold,  gold  ! 


140 


TALMAGE^S  SElRMONB. 


Of  course  cbe  news  of  the  affluence  of  that  place  went 
out  everywhere  by  every  caravan  and  by  wing  of  every 
ship,  until  soon  the  streets  of  Jerusalem  are  crowded 
with  curiosity -seekers.  What  is  that  long  procession 
approaching  Jerusalem  ?  I  think  from  the  pomp  of  it 
there  must  be  royalty  in  the  train.  I  smell  the  breath 
of  the  spices  which  are  brought  as  presents,  and  I  hear 
the  shout  of  the  drivers,  and  I  see  the  dust-covered 
caravan,  showing  that  they  come  from  far  away.  Cry 
the  news  up  to  the  palace.  The  queen  of  Sheba  ad- 
vances. Let  all  the  people  come  out  to  see.  Let  the 
mighty  men  of  the  land  come  out  on  the  palace  corri- 
dors. Let  Solomon  come  down  the  stairs  of  the  palace 
before  the  queen  has  alighted.  Shake  out  the  cinnamon 
and  the  saffron,  and  the  calamus,  and  the  frankincense, 
and  pass  it  into  the  treasure  house.  Take  up  the  dia- 
monds until  they  glitter  in  the  sun. 

THE  QUEEN  OF  SHEBA. 

The  queen  of  Sheba  alights.  She  enters  the  palace. 
She  washes  at  the  bath.  She  sits  down  at  the  banquet. 
The  cup-bearers  bow.  The  meat  smokes.  The  music 
trembles  in  the  dash  of  the  waters  from  the  modern  sea. 
Then  she  rises  from  the  banquet,  and  w^alks  through 
the  conservatories,  and  gazes  on  the  architectures, 
and  she  asks  Solomon  many  strange  questions,  and 
then  she  learns  about  the  religion  of  the  Hebrews,  and 
she  then  and  there  becomes  a  servant  of  the  Lord  God. 

She  is  overwhelmed.  She  begins  to  think  that  all  the 
spices  she  brought,  and  all  the  precious  wood  which  are 
intended  to  be  turned  into  harps  andpsaltreies  and  into 
railings  for  the  causeway  between  the  temple  and  the 
palace,  and  the  $1,800,000  in  money-she  begins  to  think 
that  all  these  presents  amount  to  nothing  in  such  a 
place,  and  she  is  almost  ashamed  that  she  has  brought 


tHfi  HALF  NOT  TOLt). 


141 


them,  and  ske  sa^^s  within  herself:  ''I  heard  a  great 
deal  about  this  place,  and  about  this  wonderful  religion 
of  the  Hebrews,  but  I  find  it  far  beyond  my  highest 
anticipations.  I  must  add  more  than  fifty  per  cent  to 
what  has  been  related.  It  exceeds  everything  that  I 
could  have  expected  .  The  half,  the  half  was  not  told  me:*' 
WOMEN,  WEALTH,  RELIGION. 

I  learn  from  this  subject  what  a  beautiful  thing  it  is 
when  social  position  and  wealth  surrender  themselves 
to  God.  When  religion  comes  to  a  neighborhood  the 
first  to  receive  it  are  the  women.  Some  men  say  it  is 
because  they  are  w^eak  minded.  I  say  it  is  because  they 
have  quicker  preception  of  what  is  right,  more  ardent 
affection,  and  capacity  for  sublimer  emotion.  After  the 
women  have  received  the  gospel  then  all  the  distressed 
and  the  poor  of  both  sexes,  those  who  have  no  friends, 
except  Jesus.  Last  of  all  come  the  greatly  prospered. 
Alas,  that  it  is  so! 

If  there  are  those  who  have  been  favored  of  fortune, 
or,  as  I  might  better  put  it,  favored  of  God,  surrender 
all  you  have  and  all  you  expect  to  be  to  the  Lord  who 
blessed  this  queen  of  Sheba.  Certainly  you  are  not 
ashamed  to  be  found  in  this  queen ^s  company.  I  am 
glad  that  Christ  has  had  his  imperial  friends  in  all  ages 
—Elizabeth  Christina,  queen  of  Prussia;  Maria  Feodo- 
rovna,  queen  of  Russia;  Maria,  empress  of  France^ 
Helena,  the  imperial  mother  of  Constantine;  Arcadia, 
from  her  great  fortunes  building  public  baths  in  Con- 
stantinople and  toiling  for  the  alleviation  of  the  masses; 
Queen  Clotilda,  leading  her  husband  and  3,000  of  his 
armed  warriors  to  Christian  baptism;  Elizabeth  of 
Burgundy,  giving  her  jeweled  glove  to  a  beggar,  and 
scattering  great  fortunes  among  the  distressed;  Prince 
Albert,  singing   ''Rock  of  ages"  in  Windsor  castle,  and 


142  talmage's  sermons. 

Queen  Victoria,  incognita,  reading  the  scriptures  to  a 
dying  pauper. 

I  bless  God  that  the  day  is  coming  when  royalty  will 
bring  all  its  thrones,  and  music  all  its  harmonies,  and 
painting  all  its  pictures,  and  sculpture  all  its  statuary, 
and  architecture  all  its  pillars,  and  conquest  all  its 
scepters,  and  the  queens  of  the  earth,  in  long  line  ad- 
vance, frankincense  filling  the  air,  and  the  camels  laden 
with  gold,  shall  approach  Jerusalem,  and  the  gates  shall 
be  hoisted,  and  the  great  burden  of  splendor  shall  be 
lifted  into  the  palace  of  this  greater  than  Solomon. 

EARNESTNESS  IN  SEARCH  OP  TRUTH. 
Again,  my  subject  teaches  me  what  is  earnestness  in 
the  search  of  truth.  Do  you  know  where  Sheba  was  ? 
It  was  in  Abyssinia,  or  some  say  in  the  southern  part 
of  Arabia  Felix.  In  either  case  it  was  a  great  way  off 
from  Jerusalem.  To  get  from  there  to  Jerusalem  she 
had  to  cross  a  country  infested  with  bandits  and  go 
across  blistering  deserts.  Why  did  not  the  queen  of 
Sheba  stay  at  home  and  send  a  committee  to  inquire 
about  this  new  religion,  and  have  the  delegates  report 
in  regard  to  that  religion  and  wealth  of  King  Solomon  ? 
She  wanted  to  see  for  herself  and  hear  for  herself.  She 
could  not  do  this  by  work  of  committee.  She  felt  that 
she  had  a  soul  worth  ten  thousand  kingdoms  like  Sheba 
and  she  wanted  a  robe  richer  than  any  woven  by  orien- 
tal shuttles,  and  she  wanted  a  crown  set  with  the 
jewels  of  eternity.  Bring  out  the  camels.  Put  on  the 
spices!  Gather  up  the  jewels  of  the  throne  and  put 
them  on  the  caravan.  Start  now;  no  time  to  be  lost. 
Goad  on  the  camels.  When  I  see  that  caravan,  dust- 
covered,  weary  and  exhausted,  trudging  on  across  the 
desert  and  among  the  bandits  until  it  reaches  Jerusalem, 
I  say :      There  is  an  earnest  seeker  after  truth/' 


EARNEST  SEEKERS.  (143) 


144 


talmage's  sermons. 


But  there  are  a  great  many  who  do  not  act  in  that 
way.  They  all  want  to  get  the  truth,  but  they  want 
the  truth  to  come  to  them ;  they  do  not  want  to  go  to 
it.  There  are  people  who  fold  their  arms  and  say :  I 
am  ready  to  become  a  Christian  at  any  time ;  if  I  am 
to  be  saved  I  shall  be  saved,  and  if  I  am  to  be  lost  I 
shall  be  lost/^  But  Jerusalem  wall  never  come  to  you ; 
you  must  go  to  Jerusalem.  The  religion  of  the  Lord 
Jesus  Christ  will  not  come  to  you ;  you  must  go  and 
get  religion.  Bring  out  the  camels ;  put  on  all  the  sweet 
spices,  all  the  treasures  of  the  heart's  affection.  Start 
for  the  throne.  Go  in  and  hear  the  waters  of  salvation 
dashing  in  fountains  all  around  about  the  throne.  Sit 
down  at  the  banquet — the  wine  pressed  from  the  grapes 
of  the  heavenly  Eshcol,  the  angels  of  God  the  cup- 
bearers. Goad  on  the  camels.  The  bible  declares  it : 
The  queen  of  the  south '' — that  is,  this  very  woman  I 
am  speaking  of— the  queen  of  the  south  shall  rise  up 
in  judgment  against  this  generation  and  condemn  it; 
for  she  came  from  the  uttermost  parts  of  the  earth  to 
hear  the  wisdom  of  Solomon;  and  behold !  a  greater 
than  Solomon  is  here."  What  infatuation,  the  sitting 
down  in  idleness  expecting  to  be  saved.  Strive  to  en- 
ter in  at  the  straight  gate.  Ask,  and  it  shall  be  given 
you;  seek,  and  ye  shall  find;  knock,  and  it  shall  be 
opened  to  you.''  Take  the  kingdom  of  heaven  by  vio- 
lence.   Urge  on  the  camels ! 

RELIGION  A  SURPRISE. 
Again,  my  subject  impresses  me  with  the  fact  that  re- 
ligion is  a  surprise  to  any  one  that  gets  it.  This  story 
of  the  new  religion  in  Jerusalem  and  of  the  glory  of 
King  Solomon,  who  was  a  type  of  Christ — that  story 
rolled  on  and  on  and  was  told  by  every  traveler  coming 
I  '  u  k  from  Jcrusaletii,    The  news  goes  on  the  wing  of 


THE  HALF  NOT  TOLD. 


145 


every  ship  and  with  every  caravan,  and  you  know  a 
story  enlarges  as  it  is  retold,  and  by  the  time  that  story 
gets  down  into  the  southern  part  of  Arabia  Felix  and 
the  queen  of  Sheba  hears  it,  it  must  be  a  tremendous 
stor3^  And  yet  this  queen  declares  in  regard  to  it, 
although  she  had  heard  so  much  and  had  her  anticipa- 
tions raised  so  high,  the  half,  the  half  was  not  told  her. 

So  religion  is  always  a  surprise  to  any  one  that  gets 
it.  The  story -of  grace — an  old  story.  Apostles  preached 
it  with  rattle  of  chain;  martyrs  declared  it  with  arm 
fire;  deathbeds  have  affirmed  it  with  visions  of  glory, 
and  ministers  of  religion  have  sounded  it  through  the 
lanes  and  the  highways,  and  the  chapels  and  the  cathe- 
drals. It  has  been  cut  into  stone  with  chisel,  and  spread 
on  the  canvas  with  pencil;  and  it  has  been  recited  in 
the  doxology  of  great  congregations.  And  yet,  when  a 
man  first  comes  to  loook  on  the  palace  of  God's  mercy, 
and  to  see  the  royalty  of  Christ,  and  the  wealth  of  this 
banquet,  and  the  luxuries  of  his  attendants,  and  the 
loveliness  of  his  face,  and  the  joy  of  his  service,  he  ex- 
claims with  prayers,  with  tears,  with  sighs,  with  tri- 
umph:   ^^The  half— the  half  was  not  told  me!'' 

I  appeal  to  those  who  are  Christians.  Compare  the 
idea  you  had  of  the  joy  of  the  Christian  life  before  you 
become  a  Christian  with  ihe  appreciation  of  that  jo^^ 
you  have  now  since  you  have  become  a  Christian,  and 
you  are  willing  to  attest  before  angels  and  men  that 
you  never,  in  the  days  of  your  spiritual  bondage,  had 
any  appreciation  of  what  was  to  come.  You  are  ready 
today  to  answer  and  say  in  regard  to  the  discoveries 
you  have  made  the  mercy,  and  the  grace,  and  the  good- 
ness of  God:    ^^The  half— the  half  was  not  told  me!" 

Well,  we  hear  a  great  deal  about  the  good  time  that 
is  coming  to  this  world  when  it  is  to  be  girded  with 


146 


talmagf/s  sermons. 


salvation.  Holiness  on  the  bells  of  the  horses.  The  lion's 
mane  patted  by  the  hand  of  a  babe.  Ships  of  Tarshish 
bringing  cargoes  for  Jesus,  and  the  hard,  dry,  barren, 
winter-bleached,  storm-scarred,  thunder-split  rock 
breaking  into  floods  of  bright  water.  Deserts  into 
which  dromedaries  thrust  their  nostrils,  because  they 
were  afraid  of  the  simoon— deserts  blooming  into  car- 
nation roses  and  silver-tipped  lillies. 

It  is  an  old  stor3^  Everybody  tells  it.  Isaiah  told  it, 
John  told  it,  Paul  told  it,  Ezekiel  told  it,  Luther  told  it, 
Calvin  told  it,  John  Milton  told  it— every-body  tells  it, 
and  yet — and  yet  when  the  midnight  shall  fly  the  hills, 
and  Christ  shall  marshall  his  great  army,  and  China, 
dashing  her  idols  into  the  dust,  shall  hear  the  voice  of 
God  and  wheel  into  line,  and  India,  destroying  her  Jug- 
gernaut and  snatching  up  her  little  children  from  the 
Ganges,  shall  hear  the  voice  of  God  and  wheel  into  line, 
and  vine-covered  Italy,  and  wheat-crowned  Russia, and 
all  the  nations  of  the  earth  shall  hear  the  voice  of  God 
and  fall  into  line;  then  the  church,  which  has  been  toil, 
ing  and  struggling  through  the  centuries,  robed  and 
garlanded  like  a  bride  adorned  for  her  husband,,  shall 
put  aside  her  veil  and  look  up  into  the  face  of  the  lord 
and  king  and  say:     The  half— the  half  was  not  told  me. 

THE  FINAL  WONDER ! 
Well,  there  is  coming  a  greater  surprise  to  every 
Christian — a  greater  surprise  than  anything  I  have  de- 
picted. Heaven  is  an  old  story.  Everybody  talks  about 
it.  There  is  hardly  a  hymn  in  the  hymn-book  that  does 
not  refer  to  it.  Children  read  about  it  in  their  Sabbath- 
school  books.  Aged  men  ])ut  on  their  spectacles  to 
study  it.  We  saj^  it  is  a  harbor  from  the  storm.  We 
call  it  home.  We  say  it  is  the  house  of  many  mansions. 
We  weave  together  all  sweet,  beautiful,  delicate,  exhil- 


THE  HALF  NOT  TOLD. 


147 


arant  words;  we  weave  them  into  letters,  and  then  we 
spell  it  out  in  rose  and  lily  and  amaranth.  And  yet  that 
place  is  going  to  be  a  surprise  to  the  most  intelligent 
Christian.  Like  the  queen  of  Sheba  the  report  has 
come  to  us  from  the  far  country,  and  many  of  us  have 
started.  It  is  a  desert  march,  but  we  urge  on  the 
camels.  What  though  our  feet  be  blistered  on  the  way? 
We  are  hastening  to  the  palace.  We  take  all  our  loves 
and  hopes  and  Christian  ambitions,  as  frankincense 
and  myrrh  and  cassia  to  the  great  king.  We  must  not 
rest.  We  must  not  halt.  The  night  is  coming  on  and 
it  is  not  safe  out  here  in  the  desert.  Urge  on  the  camels. 
I  see  the  domes  against  the  sky,  and  the  houses  of  Leb- 
anon, and  the  temples,  and  the  gardens.  See  the  foun- 
tains dancing  in  the  sun,  and  the  gates  flash  as  they 
open  to  let  in  the  poor  pilgrim. 

Send  the  word  up  to  the  palace  that  we  are  coming 
and  that  we  are  weary  of  the  march  of  the  desert. 
The  king  will  come  out  and  say:  ''Welcome  to  the 
palace ;  bathe  in  these  waters ;  recline  on  these  banks. 
Take  this  cinnamon,  and  frankincense,  and  myrrh,  and 
put  it  upon  a  censer  and  swing  it  before  the  altar/' 

And  yet,  my  friends,  when  heaven  bursts  upon  us  it 
will  be  a  greater  surprise  than  that—Jesus  on  the 
throne  and  we  made  like  him !  All  our  Christian  friends 
surrounding  us  in  glory !  All  our  sorrows,  and  tears, 
and  sins  gone  by  forever !  The  thousands  of  thousands, 
the  one  hundred  and  forty  and  four  thousand,  the  great 
multitudes  that  no  man  can  number,  will  cry,  world 
without  end :      The  half— the  half  was  not  told  me ! " 


d.'^APOLEON  WjTNBSSINQ  THB  BURNING  OF  MOSCOW, 


IN  PARIS. 


DQWNFEL  OF  flTHflllM. 

[Delivered  in  Paris,  Jan.,  12th,  1890.] 
^ ^Jehosheh a y  the  daughter  oi  King  Jor am,  sister  of  Ahaziah,  took 
Joash,  the  son  of  Ahaziah,  and  stole  him  from  among  the  king^s  sons 
which  were  slain;  and  they  hid  him,  even  him  and  his  nurse,  in  the 
bed-chamber  from  Athaliah,  so  that  he  was  not  slain.  And  he  was 
with  her  hid  in  the  house  of  the  Lord  six y ears, 11  Kings,  xi.,  2,  3. 

A  WORD  TO  GRANDMOTHERS. 
RANDMOTHERS  are   mbre  lenient   with  their 
children's  children  than  they  were  with  their 
own.   At  40  years  of  age,  if  discipline  be  neces- 
sary, chastisement  is  used,  but  at  70,  the  grandmother, 

(149)  - 


150 


talmage's  sermons. 


looking  upon  the  misbehavior  of  the  grandchild,  is  a- 
pologetic  and  disposed  to  substitute  confectionery  for 
whip.  There  is  nothing  more  beautiful  than  this  mel- 
lowing of  old  age  toward  childhood.  Grandmother 
takes  out  her  pocket  handkerchief  and  wipes  her  speta- 
cles  and  puts  them  on,  and  looks  down  into  the  face  of 
her  mischievous  and  rebellious  descendant,  and  says: 

I  don't  think  he  meant  to  do  it ;  let  him  off  this  time ; 
I'll  be  responsible  for  his  behavior  in  the  future/'  My 
mother,  with  the  second  generation  around  her — a 
boisterous  crew — said  one  day :  I  suppose  they  ought 
to  be  disciplined,  but  I  can't  do  it.  Grandmothers 
are  not  fit  to  bring  up  grandchildren."  But  here,  in 
my  text,  we  have  a  grandmother  of  a  different  hue, 

I  have  within  a  few  days  been  at  Jerusalem,  where 
the  occurrence  of  the  text  took  place,  and  the  whole 
scene  came  vividly  before  me  while  I  was  going  over  the 
site  of  the  ancient  temple  and  climbing  the  towers  of 
the  king's  palace.  Here  in  the  text  it  is  old  Athaliah 
the  queenly  murderess.  She  ought  to  have  been  honor- 
able. Her  father  was  a  king.  Her  husband  was  a  king. 
Her  son  was  a  king.  And  yet  we  find  her  plotting  for 
the  extermination  of  the  entire  royal  family,  including 
her  own  grandchildren.  The  executioner's  knives  are 
sharpened.  The  palace  is  red  with  the  blood  of  princes 
and  princesses.  On  all  sides  are  shrieks,  and  hands 
thrown  up,  and  struggle,  and  death-groan.  No  mercy! 
Kill!  Kill! 

A  WIFE  STEALS  A  CHILD. 

But  while  tht  ivory  floors  of  the  palace  run  with 
carnage,  and  the  whole  land  is  under  the  shadow  of  a 
great  horror,  a  fleet-footed  woman,  a  clergyman's  wife, 
Jehosheba  by  name,  stealthily  approaches  the  imperial 
nursery,  seizes  upon  the  grandchild  that  had  somehow 


DOWNFALL  OF  ATHALIAH. 


151 


as  yet  escaped  massacre,  wraps  it  up  tenderly  but  in 
haste,  snuggles  it  against  her,  flies  down  the  palace 
stairs,  her  heart  in  her  throat  lest  she  be  discovered  in 
this  Christian  abduction.  Get  her  out  of  the  way  as 
quick  as  you  can,  for  she  carries  a  precious  burden,  even 
a  young  king.  With  this  youthful  prize  she  presses  into 
the  room  of  the  ancient  temple,  the  church  of  olden 
time,  unwraps  the  young  king  and  puts  him  down, 
sound  asleep  as  he  is,  and  unconscious  of  the  peril  that 
has  been  threatened;  and  there  for  six  years  he  is  secreted 
in  that  church  apartment.  Meanwhile  old  Athaliah 
smacks  her  lips  with  satisfaction  and  thinks  that  all 
the  royal  family  are  dead. 

But  the  six  years  expire,  and  it  is  now  time  for  young 
Joash  to  come  forth  and  take  the  throne,  and  to  push 
back  into  disgrace  and  death  old  Athaliah.  The  ar- 
rangements are  all  made  for  political  revolution.  The 
military  come  and  take  possession  of  the  temple,  swear 
loyalty  to  the  boy  Joash,  and  stand  around  for  his 
defense.  See  the  sharpened  swords  and  burnished 
shields!  Everything  is  ready.  Now  Joash,  half  affright- 
ed at  the  armed  tramp  of  his  defenders,  scared  at  the 
Vociferation  of  his  admirers,  is  brought  forth  in  full 
regalia.  The  scroll  of  authority  is  put  in  his  haiids,  the 
the  coronet  of  government  is  put  on  his  brow,  and  the 
people  clapped,  and  waved,  and  huzzaed,  and  trumpet- 
ed. ^^What  is  that?^^  said  Athaliah.  What  is  that 
sound  over  in  the  temple?''  And  she  flies  to  see,  and  on 
her  way  they  meet  her  and  say:  '^Why,  haven't  you 
heard?  You  thought  you  had  slain  all  the  royal  family, 
but  Joash  has  come  to  light."  Then  the  queenly  mur- 
deress, frantic  with  rage,  grabbed  her  mantle  and  tore 
it  to  tatters,  and  cried  until  she  foamed  at  the  mouth:. 
^*You  have  no  li^ht  to  crown  my  grandson.    You  have 


152 


talmage's  sermons. 


no  right  to  take  the  government  from  my  shoulders. 
Treason!  Treason!''  While  she  stood  there  crying 
that,  the  military  started  for  her  arrest,  and  she  took 
a  short  cut  through  a  back  door  of  the  temple  and  ran 
through  the  royal  stables;  but  the  battle-axes  of  the 
military  fell  on  her  in  the  barn-yard,  and  for  many  a 
day  when  the  horses  were  being  unloosed  from  the 
chariot  after  drawing  out  young  Joash  the  fiery  steeds 
would  snort  and  rear  passing  the  place,  as  they  smelt 
the  place  of  the  carnage. 

RIGHTEOUSNESS  CANNOT  BE  EXTERMINATED. 

The  first  thought  I  hand  you  from  this  subject  is  that 
the  extermination  of  righteousness  is  an  impossibility. 
When  a  woman  is  good,  she  is  apt  to  be  very  good,  and 
when  she  is  bad  she  is  apt  to  be  very  bad,  and  this  Ath- 
aliah  was  one  of  the  latter  sort.  She  would  extermin- 
ate the  last  scion  of  the  house  of  David,  through  whom 
Jesus  was  to  come.  There  was  plenty  of  work  for  em- 
balmers  and  undertakers.  She  would  clear  the  land  of 
all  God-fearing  and  God-loving  people.  She  would  put 
an  end  to  everything  that  could  in  anywise  interfere 
with  her  imperial  criminality.  She  folds  her  hands  and 
says:  The  work  is  done;  it  is  completely  done.''  Is 
it?  In  the  swaddling  clothes  of  that  church  apart- 
ment are  wrapped  the  cause  of  God,  in  the  cause  of 
good  government.  That  is  the  scion  of  the  house  of 
David;  it  is  Joash,  the  Christian  reformer;  it  is  Joash, 
the  friend  of  God;  it  is  Joash,  the  demolisher  of  Baali- 
tish  idolatry.  Rock  him  tenderly;  nurse  him  gently. 
Athaliah,  you  may  kill  all  the  other  children,  but  you 
cannot  kill  him.  Eternal  defences  are  thrown  all  around 
him,  and  this  clergyman's  wife,  Johosheba,  will  snatch 
him  up  from  the  |)nlace  ntirserv.  and  will  run  up  and 
down  with  !  '  ;  r-  '?  the  !m.mi:;<.  of  i.hv  Lord,  and  there 


154 


TALMACtE's  SI^RMONS. 


she  will  hide  him  for  six  j^ears,  and  at  the  end  of  that 
time  he  will  come  forth  for  your  dethronement  and  ob- 
literation. 

PERSECUTIONS  ARE  FUTILE. 

Well,  my  friends,  just  as  poor  a  botch  does  the  world 
always  make  of  extinguishing  righteousness.  Super- 
stition rises  up  and  says :  I  will  just  put  an  end  to 
pure  religion/'  Domitian  slew  40,000  Christians.  Dio- 
cletian slew  844,000  Christians.  And  the  scythe  of 
persecution  has  been  swung  through  all  ages,  and  the 
flames  hissed,  and  the  guillotine  chopped,  and  the  bas- 
tile  groaned  ;  but  did  the  foes  of  Christianity  extermi- 
nate it  ?  Did  they  exterminate  Alban,  the  first  sacrifice ; 
or  Zuinglius,  the  Swiss  reformer;  or  John  Oldcastle,  the 
Christian  nobleman ;  or  Abdallah,  the  Arabian  martyr; 
or  Anne  Askew,  or  Sanders,  or  Cranmer?  Great  work 
of  extermination  they  made  of  it.  Just  at  the  time 
when  they  thought  they  had  slain  all  the  royal  family 
of  Jesus  some  Joash  would  spring  up  and  out  and  take 
the  throne  of  power  and  wield  a  very  scepter  of  Chris- 
tian dominion. 

INFIDELITY  FAILS  TO  ANNIHILATE. 

Infidelity  says :  I'll  just  exterminate  the  bible,''  and 
the  scriptures  were  thrown  into  the  street  for  the  mob 
to  trample  on,  and  they  were  piled  up  in  the  public 
squares  and  set  on  fire,  and  mountains  of  indignant 
contempt  were  hurled  on  them,  and  learned  universities 
decreed  the  bible  out  of  existence.    Thomas  Paine  said  : 

In  my  *Age  of  Reason '  I  have  annihilated  the  script- 
ures. Your  Washington  is  a  pusillanimous  Christian, 
but  I  am  the  foe  of  bibles  and  of  churches."  Oh,  how 
many  assaults  upon  that  word !  All  the  hostilities  that 
have  ever  been  created  on  earth  are  not  to  be  compared 


DOWNFALL  OF  ATHALliiL^^ 


155 


with  the  hostilities  against  that  one  book.  Said  one 
man  in  his  infidel  desperation  to  his  wife :  You  must 
not  be  reading  that  bible/*  and  he  snatched  it  away 
from  her.  And  though  in  that  bible  was  a  lock  of  hair 
of  the  dead  child — the  only  child  that  God  had  ever 
given  them — he  pitched  the  book  with  its  contents  into 
the  fire;  and  stirred  it  with  the  tongs  and  spat  on  it , 
and  cursed  it.  and  said :  Susan,  never  have  any  more 
of  that  damnable  stuff  here !  '* 

How  many  individual  and  organized  attempts  have 
been  made  to  exterminate  that  bible !  Have  they  done 
it  ?  Have  they  exterminated  the  British  and  Foreign 
Bible  society  ?  Have  they  exterminated  the  thousands 
of  Christian  institutions,  whose  only  object  is  to  multi- 
ply copies  of  the  scriptures  and  throw  them  broadcast 
around  the  w^orld  ?  They  have  exterminated  until  in- 
stead of  one  or  two  copies  of  the  bible  in  our  homes  we 
have  eight  or  ten,  and  we  pile  them  up  in  the  comers  for 
our  Sabbath-school  rooms  and  send  great  boxes  of  them 
everywhere. 

If  they  get  on  as  well  as  they  are  now  going  on  in  the 
work  of  extermination  I  do  not  know  but  that  our 
children  may  live  to  see  the  millennium !  Yea,  if  there 
should  come  a  time  of  persecution  in  which  all  the 
known  bibles  of  the  earth  should  be  destroyed,  all  these 
lamps  of  light  that  blaze  in  our  pulpits  and  in  our  fami- 
lies extinguished.  In  the  very  day  that  infidelity  and 
sin  should  be  holding  a  jubilee  over  the  universal  extinc- 
tion there  would  be  in  some  closet  of  a  backwoods 
church  a  secreted  copy  of  the  bible,  and  this  Joash  of 
eternal  literature  would  come  out  and  come  up  and  take 
the  throne,  and  the  [Athaliah  of  infidelity  and  persecu- 
tion would  fly  out  the  back  door  of  the  palace  and  drop 
her  miserable^'carcass  under  the  hoofs  of  the  horses  of 


156 


talmage's  sermons. 


the  king's  stable.  You  can  not  exterminate  Christian* 
ity !   You  cannot  kill  Joash ! 

THE  OPPORTUNITIES  FOR  SAYING. 

The  second  thought  I  hand  you  from  my  subject  is, 
that  there  are  oportunities  in  which  we  may  save  royal 
life.  You  know  that  profane  history  is  replete  with 
stories  of  strangled  monarchs  and  of  young  princes 
who  have  been  put  out  of  the  way.  Here  is  the  story 
of  a  young  king  saved.  How  Jehosheba.  the  clergy- 
man's wife,  must  have  trembled  as  she  rushed  into  the 
imperial  nursery  and  snatched  up  Joash.  How  she 
hushed  him,  lest  by  his  cry  he  hinder  the  escape.  Fly 
with  him  !  Jehosheba,  you  hold  in  your  arms  the  cause 
of  God  and  good  government.  Fail,  and  he  is  slain. 
Succeed,  and  you  turn  the  tide  of  the  world's  history 
in  the  right  direction.  It  seems  as  if  between  that 
young  king  and  his  assassins  there  is  nothing  but  the 
frail  arm  of  a  woman.  But  why  should  we  spend  our 
time  in  praising  the  bravery  of  expedition  when 
God  asks  the  same  thing  of  you  and  me?  All  around 
us  are  the  imperiled  children  of  a  great  king. 

They  are  born  of  almighty  parentage  and  will  come 
to  a  throne  or  a  crown  if  permitted.  But  sin,  the  old 
Athaliah,  goes  forth  to  the  massacre.  Murderous 
temptations  are  out  for  the  assassination.  Valens,  the 
emperor,  was  told  that  there  was  somebody  in  his 
realm  who  would  usurp  the  throne  and  that  the  name 
of  the  man  who  should  be  the  usurper  would  begin 
with  the  letters  T.  H.  E.  O.  D.,  and  the  edictwent  forth 
from  the  emperor's  throne:  *'Kill  everybody  whose 
name  begins  with  T.  H.  E.  O.  D.'^  And  hundreds  and 
thousands  were  slain,  hoping  by  that  massacre  to  put 
an  end  to  that  one  usurper.  But  sin  is  more  terrific  in 
its  ("lenunciation.   If  matters  not  how  you  spell  your 


158 


talmage's  sermons. 


name,  you  come  under  its  knife,  under  its  sword,  under 
its  doom,  unless  there  be  some  omnipotent  relief 
brought  to  the  rescue.  But,  blessed  be  God,  there  is 
such  a  thing  as  delivering  a  royal  soul.  Who  will 
snatch  away  Joash  ? 

PERSONS  IN  YOUR  SUNDAY  SCHOOL  CLASS! 

This  afternoon,  in  your  Sabbath-school  class,  there 
will  be  a  prince  of  God — some  one  who  may  yet  reign 
as  king  forever  before  the  throne;  there  will  be  some 
one  in  your  class  who  has  a  corrupt  physical  inheritance; 
there  will  be  some  one  in  your  class  who  has  a  father 
and  mother  who  do  not  know  how  to  pray;  there  will 
be  some  one  in  your  class  who  is  destined  to  command 
in  church  or  state — some  Cromwell  to  dissolve  a  parlia- 
ment, some  Beethoven  to  touch  the  world's  harp-strings, 
some  John  Howard  to  pour  fresh  air  into  the  lazaretto, 
some  Florence  Nightengale  to  bandage  the  battle 
wounds,  some  Miss  Dix  to  soothe  the  crazed 
brain,  some  John  Frederick  Oberlin  to  educate  the 
besotted,  some  David  Brainard  to  change  the  Indian's 
war-whoop  to  a  Sabbath  song,  some  John  Wesley  to 
marshall  threefourths  of  Christendom,  some  John  Knox 
to  make  queens  turn  pale,  some  Joash  to  demolish  idol- 
atry and  strike  for  the  kingdom  of  heaven. 

There  are  sleeping  in  your  cradles  by  night,  there  are 
playing  in  your  nurseries  by  day,  imperial  souls  wait- 
ing for  dominion,  and  whichever  side  the  cradle  they 
get  out  will  decide  the  destiny  of  empires.  For  each 
one  of  those  children  sin  and  holiness  counted- Athaliali 
on  one  side  and  Jehosheba  on  the  other.  But  I  hear 
people  say;  ''What's  the  use  of  bothering  children 
with  religious  instruction?  Let  them  grow  up  and 
choose  for  themselves."  Suppose  some  one  had  said  to 
Jehosheba:    ''Don't  interfere  with  that  young  Joash 


DOWNFALL  OF  ATHALlAH. 


159 


Let  him  grow  up  and  decide  whether  he  likes  the  palace 
or  not,  whether  he  wants  to  be  king  or  not.  Don't  dis- 
turb his  volition/'  Jehosheba  knew  right  well  that 
unless  that  day  the  young  king  was  rescued  he  would 
not  be  rescued  at  all. 

I  tell  you,  my  friends,  the  reason  we  don't  reclaim  all 
our  children  from  worldliness  is  because  w^  begin  too 
late.  Parents  wait  until  their  children  lie  before  they 
teach  them  the  value  of  truth.  They  wait  until  their 
children  swear  before  they  teach  them  the  importance 
of  righteous  conversation.  They  wait  until  their  chil- 
dren are  all  wrapped  up  in  this  world  before  they  tell 
them  of  a  better  world.  Too  late,  with  your  prayers. 
Too  late  with  your  discipline.  Too  late  with  your  ben- 
ediction. You  put  all  care  upon  your  children  between 
12  and  18.  Why  do  you  not  put  the  chief  care  between 
4  and  9?  It  is  too  late  to  repair  a  vessel  when  it  has 
got  out  of  the  dry-dock!  It  is  too  late  to  save  Joash 
after  the  executioners  have  broken  in.  May  God  arm 
us  all  for  this  work  of  snatching  royal  souls  from  death 
to  coronation. 

HOW  PHOCUS  DUG  HIS  GRAVE  AND  DIED. ! 

Can  you  imagine  any  sublimer  work  than  this  soul- 
saving?  That  was  what  flushed  Paul's  cheek  with  en- 
thusiasm; that  was  what  led  Munson  to  risk  his  life 
amid  Bornesian  cannibals;  that  was  what  sent  Dr. 
Abeel  to  preach  under  the  consuming  skies  of  China; 
that  was  what  gave  courage  to  Phocus  in  the  third 
century.  When  the  military  officers  came  to  put  him  to 
death  for  Christ's  sak\£  he  put  them  to  bed  that  they 
might  rest  while  he  himself  went  out  and  in  his  own 
garden  dug  his  grave  and  then  came  back  and  said: 
**I  am  ready."  But  they  were  shocked  at  the  idea  of 
taking  the  life  of  their  host.    He  said:    ''It  is  the  will 


160  TALMAGE^S  SERMONS. 

of  God  that  I  should  die,"  and  he  stood  on  the  margin 
of  his  own  grave  and  they  beheaded  him.  You  say  it 
is  a  mania,  a  foolhardiness,  a  fanaticism.  Rather 
would  I  call  it  a  glorious  self-abnegation,  the  thrill  of 
eternal  satisfaction,  the  plucking  of  Joash  from  death 
and  raising  him  to  coronation. 

THE  CHURCH  IS  A  GOOD  HIDING  PLACE. 
The  third  thought  I  hand  to  you  from  my  text  is 
that  the  church  of  God  is  a  good  hiding-place.  When 
Jehosheba  rushes  into  the  nursery  of  the  king  and  picks 
up  Joash  what  shall  she  do  with  him?  Shall  she  take 
him  to  some  room  in  the  palace?  No;  for  the  official 
desperadoes  will  hunt  through  every  nook  and  corner 
of  that  building.  Shall  slie  take  him  to  the  residence 
of  some  wealthy  citizen?  No;  that  citizen  would  not 
dare  to  harbor  the  fugitive.  But  she  has  to  take  him 
somewhere.  She  hears  the  cry  of  the  mob  in  the  streets; 
she  hears  the  shriek  of  the  dying  nobility;  so  she  rushes 
with  Joash  into  the  room  of  the  temple,  into  the  house 
of  God,  and  then  she  puts  him  down.  She  knows  that 
Athaliah  and  her  wicked  assassins  will  not  bother  the 
temple  a  great  deal;  they  are  not  apt  to  go  very  much 
to  church,  and  so  she  sets  down  Joash  in  the  temple. 
There  he  vfill  be  hearing  the  songs  of  the  worshipers 
year  after  year;  there  he  will  breathe  the  odor  of  the 
golden  censers;  in  that  sacred  spot  he  will  tarry,  secret- 
ed until  the  six  years  have  passed  and  he  come  to  en- 
thronement. 

Would  to  God  we  were  as  wise  as  Jehosheba,  and 
knew  that  the  church  of  God  is  the  best  hiding-place. 
Perhaps  our  parents  took  us  there  in  early  days;  they 
snatched  us  away  from  the  world  and  hide  us  behind 
the  baptismal  fonts  and  amid  the  bibles  and  the  psalm 
books.    O  glorious  inclosure!   We  have  been  breathing 


162 


talmage's  sermons. 


the  breath  of  the  golden  censers  all  the  time,  and  we 
have  seen  the  lamb  on  the  altar,  and  we  have  handled 
the  phials  which  are  the  prayers  of  all  saints,  and  we 
have  dwelt  under  the  wings  of  the  cherubim.  Glorious 
inclosure!  When  my  father  and  my  mother  died,  and 
the  property  was  settled  up,  there  was  hardly  anything 
left;  but  they  endowed  us  with  a  propert3^  worth  more 
than  any  earthly  posseSvSion,  because  they  hid  us  in  the 
temple.  And  when  days  of  temptation  have  come  upon 
my  soul  I  have  gone  there  for  shelter;  and  when  assault- 
ed of  sorrows  I  have  gone  there  for  comfort,  and  there 
I  mean  to  live.  I  want,  like  Joash,  to  stay  there  until 
coronation.   I  mean  to  be  buried  out  of  the  house  of  God . 

Oh,  men  of  the  world  outside  there,  betrayed,  cari- 
catured, and  cheated  of  the  world,  why  do  3^ou  not  come 
in  through  the  broad,  w4de-open  door  of  Christian  com- 
munion? I  wish  I  could  act  the  part  of  Jehosheba  to- 
day, and  steal  you  away  from  your  perils  and  hide  you 
in  the  temple.  How  few  of  us  appreciate  the  fact  that 
the  church  of  God  is  a  hiding-place.  There  are  many 
people  who  put  the  church  at  so  low  a  mark  that  they 
begrudge  it  everything,  even  the  few  dollars  they  give 
toward  it.  They  make  no  sacrifices.  They  dole  a  little 
out  of  their  surplusage.  They  pay  their  butcher's  bill, 
and  they  pay  their  doctor's  bill,  and  they  pay  their 
landlord,  and  they  pay  everybody  but  the  lord,  and 
they  come  in  at  the  last  to  pay  the  Lord  in  his  church, 
and  frown  as  they  say:  ''There,  Lord,  it  is  if  you  will 
have  it,  take  it — now  take  it,  take  it;  send  me  a  receipt 
in  full,  and  don't  bother  me  soon  again!" 

I  tell  you  there  is  not  more  than  one  man  out  of  a 
thousand  who  appreciates  what  the  church  is.  Where 
are  the  souls  that  put  aside  one-tenth  for  Christian  in- 
stitutions— one-tenth  of  their  incomes?   Where  are  those 


DOWNFALL  OF  ATHALIAH. 


163 


who,  having  put  aside  that  one-tenth,  draw  upon  it 
cheerfully?  Why,  it  is  to  pull,  and  drag,  and  hold  on, 
and  grab,  and  clutch;  and  giving  is  an  affliction  to 
most  people  when  it  ought  to  be  an  exhilaration  and  a 
rapture.  Oh,  that  God  would  remodel  our  souls  on  this 
subject  and  that  we  might  appreciate  the  house  of  God 
as  a  great  refuge.  If  your  children  are  to  come  up  to 
lives  of  virtue  and  happiness  they  will  come  up  under 
the  shade  of  the  church.  If  the  church  does  not  get  them 
the  world  will. 

SAVE  YOUR  CHILDREN. 
Ah,  when  you  pass  away — and  it  will  not  be  long  be- 
fore you  do — v/hen  you  pass  away  it  will  be  a  satis- 
faction to  see  your  children  in  Christian  society.  You 
want  to  have  them  sitting  at  the  holy  sacraments. 
You  want  them  mingling  in  Christian  associations- 
You  would  like  to  have  them  die  in  the  sacred  precints. 
When  you  are  on  your  dying  bed,  and  your  little  ones 
come  up  to  take  your  last  word,  and  you  look  into 
their  bewildered  faces,  you  will  want  to  leave  them  un- 
der the  church's  benediction.  I  don't  care  how  hard 
you  are,  that  is  so.  I  said  to  a  man  of  the  world: 
''Your  son  and  daughter  are  going  to  join  our  church 
next  Sunday.  Have  j^ou  any  objections?"  ''Bless you," 
he  said,  "objections?  I  wish  all  my  children  belonged 
to  the  church.  I  don't  attend  to  those  matters  my- 
self—I  am  very  wicked — but  I  am  very  glad  they  are 
going,  and  I  shall  be  there  to  see  them.  I  am  very  glad, 
sir;  I  am  very  glad.  I  want  them  there."  And  so, 
though  you  may  have  been  wanderers  from  God,  and 
though  you  may  have  sometimes  caricatured  the  church 
of  Jesus,  it  is  your  great  desire  that  your  sons  and 
daughters  should  be  standing  all  their  lives  within  this 
sacred  inclosure. 


164 


talmage's  sermons. 


More  than  that,  you  yourself  will  want  the  church 
for  a  hiding  place  when  the  mortgage  is  foreclosed; 
when  your  daughter,  just  blooming  into  womanhood, 
suddenly  clasps  her  hands  in  a  slumber  that  knows  no 
waking;  when  gaunt  trouble  walks  through  the  par. 
lor,  and  the  sitting-room,  and  the  dining-hall,  and  the 
nursery,  you  will  want  some  shelter  from  the  tempest. 
Ah,  some  of  you  have  been  run  upon  by  misfortune  and 
trial;  why  do  you  not  come  into  the  shelter?  I  said  to 
a  widowed  mother  after  she  had  buried  her  only  son — 
months  after  I  said  to  her:  *^How  do  you  get  along 
nowadays?''  *'0h,"  she  replied,  ''I  get  along  tolera- 
ble well  except  when  the  sun  shines/'  I  said:  ''What 
do  you  mean  by  that?"  She  said:  ''I  can't  bear  to  see 
the  sun  shine;  my  heart  is  so  dark  that  all  the  bright- 
ness of  the  natural  world  seems  a  mockery  to  me."  Oh, 
darkened  soul,  oh,  broken-hearted  man,  broken-hearted 
woman,  why  do  you  not  come  into  the  shelter?  I  swing 
the  door  wide  open.  I  swing  it  from  wall  to  wall. 
Come  in!  Come  in!  You wanta  placewhere  yonrtrou- 
bles  shall  be  interpreted,  where  your  burdens  shall  be 
imstrapped,  where  your  tears  shall  be  wiped  away. 

Church  of  God,  be  a  hiding  place  to  all  these  people. 
Give  them  a  seat  where  they  can  rest  their  weary  souls. 
Flash  some  light  from  your  chandeliers  upon  their  dark- 
less. With  some  soothing  hymn  hush  their  griefs. 
Oh,  church  of  God,  gate  of  heaven,  let  me  go  through 
it!  All  other  institutions  are  going  to  fail;  but  the 
church  of  God — its  foundation  is  the  ''Rock  of  Ages," 
its  charter  is  for  everlasting  years,  its  keys  are  held  by 
the  universal  proprietor,  its  dividend  is  heaven,  its 
president  is  God! 

''Sure    as  thy  truth  shall  last, 

To  Zion  shall  be  given 
The  brghtest  glories  earth  ean  yield, 


DOWNFALL  OF  ATHALIAH. 


165 


And  brighter  bliss  of  heaven." 

God  grant  that  all  this  audience,  the  youngest,  the 
eldevSt,  the  worst,  the  best,  may  find  their  safe  and  glori- 
ous hiding  place  where  Joash  found  it — in  the  temple! 


1 


IN  LONDON. 


8ALVSTI0N  BY  FAITH. 


[Delivered  in  London,  England,  Jan.,  19th.,  1890.] 
''Believe  on  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ  and  thoushalt  besaved^\  Acts. 
x\i,  31. 

STANDING  IN  THE  PHILIPPIAN  DUNGEON ! 

r  AILS  are  dark,  dull,  damp,  loathsome  places  even 
L  now,  but  they  were  worse  in  the  apostolic  times. 
I  imagine  today  we  are  standing  in  the  Philippian 
dungeon.  Do  you  not  feel  the  chill?  Do  you  not  hear 
the  groan  of  those  incarcerated  ones  who  for  ten  years 
have  not  seen  the  sunlight  and  the  deep  sigh  of  women 
who  remember  their  father's  house  and  mourn  over 
their  wasted  estates  ?    Listen  again.    It  is  the  cough  of 

(167) 


168 


a  consumptive  or  the  struggle  of  one  in  a  nightmare  of 
a  great  horror.  You  listen  again  and  hear  a  culprit, 
his  chains  rattling  as  he  rolls  over  in  his  dreams,  and 
5^ou  say  :  ^^God  pity  the  prisoner/'  But  there  is  an 
other  sound  in  that  prison.  It  is  a  song  of  gladness. 
What  a  place  to  sing  in !  The  music  comes  winding 
through  the  corridors  of  the  prison,  and  in  all  the  dark 
w^ards  the  whisper  is  heard  :  What's  that  ?  What's 
that  ?  ,'  It  is  the  song  of  Paul  and  Silas.  They  cannot 
sleep.  They  have  been  whipped,  very  badly  whipped. 
The  long  gashes  on  their  backs  are  bleeding  yet.  They 
lie  flat  on  the  cold  ground,  their  feet  fast  in  wooden 
sockets;  and  of  course  they  can  not  sleep.  But  they 
can  sing. 

Jailer,  what  are  you  doing  with  these  people  ?  Why 
have  they  been  put  in  here  ? 
Oh,  they  have  been  trying  to  make  the  world  better. 
Is  that  all  ? 
That  is  all. 
A  pit  for  Joseph. 

A  lion's  cave  for  Daniel.  A  blazing  furnace  for  Shad- 
rach.  Clubs  for  John  Wesley.  An  anathema  for  Philip 
Melanchton.    A  dungeon  for  Paul  and  Silas. 

But  while  we  are  standing  in  the  gloom  of  the  Phil- 
ippian  dungeon,  and  we  hear  the  mingling  voices  of 
sob,  and  groan,  and  blasphemy,  and  hallelujah,  sud- 
denly an  earthquake !  The  iron  bars  of  the  prison  twist, 
the  pillars  crack  off,  the  solid  masonry  begins  to  heave 
and  rock  till  all  the  doors  sw^ing  open,  and  the  walls 
fall  with  a  terrific  crash.  The  jailer,  feeling  himself  re 
sponsible  for  these  prisoners!  and  feeling  suicide  to  be 
honorable — since  Brutus  killed  himself,  and  Cato  killed 
himself,  and  Cassius  killed  himself— puts  his  sword  to 
his  own  heart,  proposing  with  one  strong,  keen  thrust 


SALVATION  HY  rMTII. 


to  put  an  end  to  his  excitement  and  agitation.  But 
Paul  cries  out:  ^^Stop!  stop!  Do  thyself  no  harm, 
we  are  all  here.'*  Then  I  see  the  jailer  running  through 
the  dust  and  amid  the  ruin  of  that  prison,  and  I  see 
him  throwing  himself  down  at  the  feet  of  these  prison- 
ers, crying  out :  What  shall  I  do  ?  What  shall  1  do?' 
Then  Paul  answers:  '^Get  out  of  this  place  before 
there  is  another  earthquake;  put  handcuffs  and  hob- 
bles on  these  other  prisoners  lest  they  get  away.'*  No 
word  of  that  kind.  Compact,  thrilling,  tremendous 
answer;  arisw^er  memorable  all  through  earth  and 
heaven:  Believe  on  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ  and  thou 
shalt  be  saved.'* 

THE  CRASH  OF  EARTHQUAKES. 

Well,  we  have  all  read  of  the  earthquake  in  Lisbon,  in 
Lima,  in  Aleppo,  and  in  Caraccas,  but  we  live  in  a  lati- 
tude where  in  all  our  memory  there  has  not  been  one 
severe  A^olcanic  disturbance.  And  yet  we  have  seen 
fifty  earthquakes.  Here  is  a  man  who  has  been  build- 
ing up  a  large  fortune.  His  bid  on  the  money  market 
was  felt  in  all  the  cities.  He  thinks  he  has  got  be^^ond 
all  annoying  ri^^alries  in  trade  and  he  says  to  himself : 

Now  I  am  free  and  safe  from  all  possible  perturba- 
tion.'* But  a  national  panic  strikes  the  foundations  of 
the  commercial  world  and  crash !  goes  all  the  magnifi- 
cent business  establishment.  He  is  a  man  who  has  built 
up  a  very  beautiful  home.  His  daughters  have  just  come 
home  from  the  seminary  with  diplomas  of  graduation. 
His  sons  have  started  in  life,  honest,  temperate,  and 
pure.  When  the  evening  lights  are  struck  there  is  a 
happy  and  an  unbroken  family  circle.  But  there  hav^ 
been  an  accident  down  at  the  beach.  The  young  man 
ventured  too  far  out  in  the  surf.  The  telegraph  hurled 
the  terror  up  to  the  city.   An  earthquake  struck  under 


170 


talmage's  sermons. 


the  foundation  of  that  beautiful  home.  Thf.  piano 
closed;  the  curtains  dropped;  the  laughter  hushed. 
Crash !  go  all  those  domestic  hopes  and  prospects  and 
expectations.  So,  my  friends,  we  have  all  felt  the 
shaking  down  of  some  great  trouble,  and  there  was  a 
time  when  we  were  as  much  excited  as  this  man  of  the 
text,  and  we  cried  out  as  he  did:  **What  shall  T  do? 
What  shall  I  do  ?  "  The  same  reply  that  the  apostle 
made  to  him  is  appropriate  to  us:  Believe  on  the 
Lord  Jesus  Christ  and  thou  shalt  be  saved  ?  " 

THE  SAVIORS  NAME.  ' 
There  are  some  documents  of  so  little  importance  that 
you  do  not  care  to  put  any  more  than  your  last  name 
under  them,  or  even  your  initials,  but  there  are  some 
documents  of  so  great  importance  that  you  write  out 
your  full  name.  So  the  Savior  in  some  parts  of  the 
bible  is  called  "  Lord,'' and  in  other  parts  of  the  bible 
he  is  called  ''Jesus,"  and  in  other  parts  of  the  bible  he  is 
called '' Christ,'' but  that  there  might  be  no  mistake 
about  this  passage  all  three  names  come  in  together— 
the  ''  Lord  Jesus  Christ."  Now,  who  is  this  being  that 
you  want  me  to  trust  in  and  believe  in  ?  Men  some- 
times come  to  me  with  credentials  and  certificates  of 
good  character ;  but  I  can  not  trust  them.  There  is 
some  dishonesty  in  their  looks  that  makes  me  know  I 
shall  be  cheated  if  I  confide  in  them.  You  cannot  put 
your  heart's  confidence  in  a  man  until  you  know  what 
stuff  he  is  made  of,  and  am  I  reasonable  this  morning 
when  I  stop  to  ask  you  who  this  is  that  you  want  me 
to  trust  in?  No  man  would  think  of  venturing  his 
life  on  a  vessel  going  out  to  sea  that  had  never  been  in- 
spected. No,  you  must  have  the  certificate  hung  amid- 
ships, telling  how  many  tons  it  carries,  and  how  long 
ago  it  was  l)niltj  rnid  wh    ^liili  i(,  rr-;l  all  about  it. 


SALVATION  BY  FAITH. 


171 


And  3^ou  can  not  expect  me  to  rivsk  the  cargo  of  1113^  im- 
mortal interests  on  board  any  craft  till  you  tell  me 
what  it  is  made  of,  and  where  it  was  made,  and  what 
it  is. 

When,  then,  I  ask  you  who  this  is  you  want  me  to 
trust  in,  you  tell  me  he  is  a  very  attractive  person. 
You  tell  me  that  the  contemporary  writers  describe 
him,  and  they  give  the  color  of  his  eyes,  and  the  color 
of  his  hair,  and  they  describe  his  whole  appearance  as 
being  resplendent.  Christ  did  not  tell  the  children  to 
come  to  him.  Suffer  little  children  to  come  unto  me 
was  not  spoken  to  the  children ;  it  was  spoken  to  the 
Pharisees.  The  children  had  come  without  any  invita- 
tion. No  sooner  did  Jesus  appear  than  the  little  ones 
pitched  from  their  mothers^  arms,  an  avalanche  of 
beauty  and  love,  into  his  lap.  Suffer  little  children  to 
come  unto  me.''  That  was  addressed  to  the  Pharisees ; 
not  to  the  children.  Christ  did  not  ask  John  to  put  his 
head  down  on  his  bosom ;  John  could  not  help  but  put 
his  head  there.  Such  eyes,  such  cheeks,  such  a  chin, 
such  hair,  such  physical  condition  and  appearance — 
why,  it  must  have  been  completely  captivating  and 
winsome.  I  suppose'  a  look  at  him  was  just  to  love 
him.  Oh!  how  attractive  his  manner.  Why,  when 
they  saw  Christ  coming  along  the  street  they  ran  into 
their  houses,  and  they  wrapped  up  their  invalids  as 
quick  as  they  could,  and  brought  them  out  that  he 
might  look  at  them.  Oh!  there  was  something  so 
pleasant,  so  inviting,  so  cheering  in  everything  he  did, 
in  his  very  look.  When  these  sick  ones  were  brought 
out  did  he  say:  **Take  away  these  sores;  do  not 
trouble  me  with  these  leprosies  ?  "  No,  no ;  there  was  a 
kind  look,  there  was  a  gentle  word,  there  was  a  healing 
touch.    They  could  not  keep  away  from  him. 


172 


Ill  cidditioii  to  this  softness  of  ciiaracter,  there  was  a 
fiery  momenttini.  How  the  old  hypocrites  trembled  be- 
fore him.  How  the  kings  of  the  earth  turned  pale. 
Here  is  a  plain  man,  with  a  few  sailors  at  his  back, 
coming  off  the  sea  of  Galilee,  going  up  to  the  palace  of 
the  Caesars,  making  that  palace  quake  to  the  found- 
ations, and  uttering  a  word  of  mercy  and  kindness 
which  throbs  through  all  the  earth,  and  through  all 
the  heavens,  and  through  all  the  ages.  Oh!  he  was  a 
loving  Christ.  But  it  was  not  effeminacy  or  insipidity 
of  character;  it  was  accompanied  with  majesty,  infinite 
and  omnipotent. 

THE  WONDROUS  DEATH. 

Lest  the  world  should  not  realize  his  earnestness, 
this  Christ  mounts  the  cross.  You  say:  ^'If  Christ  has 
to  die,  why  not  let  him  take  some  deadly  potion  and 
lie  on  a  couch  in  some  bright  and  beautiful  home?  If 
he  must  die,  let  him  expire  amid  all  kindly  attentions.'^ 
No,  the  world  must  hear  the  hammers  on  the  heads  of 
the  spikes.  Thev/orld  must  listen  to  the  death-ratt  le  of 
the  sufferer.  The  w^orld  must  feel  his  warm  blood  drop- 
ping on  each  cheek,  while  it  looks  up  into  the  face  of  his 
anguish.  And  so  the  cross  must  be  lifted  and  the  lio^c  is 
dug  on  the  top  of  Calvary.  It  must  be  dug  three  feet 
deep,  and  then  the  cross  is  laid  on  the  ground,  and  the 
sufferer  is  stretched  upon  it,  and  the  nails  are  pounded 
through  nerve,  and  muscle,  and  bone,  through  the  right 
hand,  through  the  left  hand,  and  then  they  shake  his 
right  hand  to  see  if  it  is  fast  and  then  they  sha.ke  his 
left  foot  to  see  if  it  is  fast,  and  then  they  heave  up  the 
wood,  half  a  dozen  shoulders  under  the  weight,  and 
they  put  the  end  of  the  cross  to  the  mouth  of  the  hole, 
and  they  plunge  it  in,  all  the  weight  of  his  body  coming 
down  for  the  first  time  on  the  spikes,  and  while  some 


SAVATION  BY  FAlTH. 


173 


liold  the  cross  upright  others  throw  in  the  dirt  and 
trample  it  down,  and  trample  it  hard.  Oh,  plant  that 
tree  well  and  thoroughly,  for  it  is  to  bear  fruit  such  as 
no  other  tree  ever  bore.  Why  did  Christ  endure  it? 
He  could  have  taken  those  rocks  and  with  them  crushed 
his  crucifiers.  He  could  have  reached  up  and  grasped 
the  sword  of  the  omnipotent  God  and  with  one  clean 
cut  have  tumbled  them  into  perdition.  But  no;  he  was 
to  die.  He  miust  die.  His  life  for  my  life.  His  life  for 
your  life. 

A  STORY  OF  A  YOUNG  MAN. 

In  one  of  the  European  cities  a  young  man  died  on 
the  scaffold  for  the  crime  of  murder.  Some  time  after 
the  mother  of  this  young  man  was  dying  and  the  priest 
camxC  in,  and  she  made  a  confession  to  the  priest  that 
she  was  the  murderer,  and  not  her  son;  in  a  moment  of 
anger  she  had  struck  her  husband  a  blow  that  slew 
him.  The  son  came  suddenly  into  the  room  and  was 
washing  away  the  wounds  and  trying  to  resuscitate 
his  father  when  some  one  looked  through  the  window 
and  saw  him  and  supposed  him  to  be  the  criminal. 
That  young  man  died  for  his  own  mother.  You  sa^^: 
*'It  was  wonderful  that  he  never  exposed  her.^^  But  I 
tell  you  of  a  grander  thing.  Christ,  the  son  of  God» 
died,  not  for  his  mother,  not  for  his  father,  but  for  his 
sworn  enemies.  Oh,  such  a  Christ  as  that— so  loving, 
so  self-sacrificing — can  you  not  trust  him? 

HOW 'to  trust  CHRIST. 

I  think  there  are  many  under  the  spirit  of  God  w^ho 
are  saying:  ''I  will  trust  him  if  he  will  only  tell  me 
how,''  and  the  great  question  asked  by  thousands  in 
this  assemblage  is:  *^How?  How?''  And  while  I 
answer  your  question  I  look  up  and  utter  the  prayer 


174 


TALMAGE*S  vSERMONS. 


which  Rowland  Hill  so  often  uttered  in  the  midst  of  his 
sermons:  Master,  help!  How  are  you  to  trust  in 
Christ?  Just  as  you  trust  any  one.  You  trust  your 
partner  in  business  with  important  things.  If  a  com- 
mercial house  give  you  a  note  payable  three  months 
hence  you  expect  the  payment  of  that  note  at  the  end 
of  three  months.  You  have  perfect  confidence  in  their 
word  and  in  their  ability.  You  go  home  to-day.  You 
expect  there  will  be  food  on  the  table.  You  have  confi- 
dence in  that.  Now,  I  ask  you  to  have  the  same  confi- 
dence in  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ.  He  says:  ''You  be- 
lieve; I  take  awa3^  your  sins,"  and  they  are  all  taken 
away.  ''What !"  you  say, ''before  I  pray  anymore? 
Before  I  read  my  bible  any  more  ?  Before  I  cry  over 
my  sins  any  more?  Yes,  this  moment.  Believe  with 
all  your  heart  and  you  are  saved. 

Why,  Christ  is  only  waiting  to  get  from  you  what 
you  give  to  scores  of  people  every  day.  What  is  that? 
Confidence.  If  these  people  w^hom  you  trust  day  by 
day  are  more  worthy  than  Christ,  if  they  are  more  faith- 
ful than  Christ,  if  they  have  done  more  than  Christ 
ever  did,  then  give  them  the  preference ;  but  if  you  really 
think  that  Christ  is  as  trustworthy  as  they  are,  then 
deal  with  him  as  fairly.  "Oh!''  says  some  one  in  a 
light  way,  "I  believe  that  Christ  was  born  in  Bethle- 
hem; and  I  believe  that  he  died  on  the  cross."  Do  you 
believe  it  with  your  head  or  your  heart? 

SAVING  FAITH. 

I  will  illustrate  the  difference.  You  are  in  your  own 
house.  In  the  morning  you  open  a  newspaper,  and  you 
iWad  how  Capt.  Braveheart  on  the  sea  risked  his  life  for 
thro  salvation  of  his  passengers.  You  sa^^:  "What  a 
grand  fellow  he  must  have  been  !  His  family  deserves 
very  well  of  the  country."   You  fold  the  newspaper  and 


SALVATION  BY  FAITH. 


175 


sit  down  at  the  table,  and  perhaps  do  not  think  of  that 
incident  again.  That  is  historical  faith.  But  now  you 
are  on  the  sea,  and  it  is  night,  and  you  are  asleep,  and 
are  awakened  by  the  shriek  of  Fire !  You  rush  out 
on  the  deck.  You  hear,  amid  the  wringing  of  the 
hands  the  fainting,  the  cries :  No  hope !  We  are  lost ! 
w^e  are  lost !  The  sail  puts  out  its  wings  of^fire,  the 
ropes  make  a  burning  ladder  in  the  night  heavens,  the 
spirit  of  wreck  hisses  in  the  waves,  and  on  the  hurri- 
cane deck  shakes  out  its  banner  of  smoke  and  darkness. 

Down  with  the  life  boats  !  cries  the  captain.  Down 
with  the  life  boats!,'  People  rush  into  them.  The 
boats  are  about  full.  Room  only  for  one  more  man. 
You  are  standing  on  the  deck  beside  the  captain.  Who 
shall  it  be  ?  You  or  the  captain  ?  The  captain  says  : 
"You."  You  jump  and  are  saved.  He  stands  there 
and  dies.  Now,  you  believe  Capt.  Braveheart  sacri- 
ficed himself  for  his  passengers,  but  you  believe  it  with 
love,  with  tears,  with  hot  and  long  continued  exclama- 
tions, with  grief  at  his  loss  and  with  joy  at  your  de- 
liverance. That  is  saving  faith.  In  other  words,  what 
you  believe  with  all  the  heart,  and  believe  in  regard  to 
yourself.  On  this  hinge  turns  my  sermon  ;  aye,  the  sal- 
vation of  your  immortal  soul. 

You  often  go  across  a  bridge  yoti  know  nothing 
about.  You  do  not  know  who  built  the  bridge,  you  do 
not  know  what  material  it  is  made  of,  but  you  come  to 
it,  and  walk  over  it,  and  ask  no  questions.  And  here  is 
an  arched  bridge,  blasted  from  the  ''Rock  of  Ages" 
and  built  by  the  architect  of  the  whole  universe,  span- 
ning the  dark  gulf  between  sin  and  righteousness,  and 
all  God  asks  you  is  to  w^alk  across  it,  and  you  start, 
and  3^ou  come  to  it,  and  you  go  a  little  way  on,  and 
you  stop,  and  you  fall  back,  and  you  experiment.  Yoti 


176 


talmage's  sermons. 


say :  ''How  do  I  know  that  bridge  will  hold  me  ?  in- 
stead of  marching  on  with  firm  step,  asking  no  ques- 
tions, but  feeling  that  the  strength  of  the  eternal  God 
is  under  you. 

Oh,  was  there  ever  a  prize  offered  so  cheap  as  pardon 
and  heaven  are  offered  to  y6u  ?  For  how  much  ?  A 
million  dollars?  It  is  certainly  worth  more  than  that. 
But  cheaper  than  that  you  can  have  it.  Ten  thousand 
dollars?  Less  than  that.  Five  thousand  dollars? 
Less  than  that.  One  dollar?  Less  than  that.  One 
farthing?  Less  than  that.  Without  money  and 
without  price. No  money  to  pay.  No  journey  to 
take.  No  penance  to  suffer.  Only  just  one  decisive  ac- 
tion of  the  soul :  ''Believe  in  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ  and 
thou  shalt  be  saved.'' 

A  HAPPY  LIFE. 
Shall  I  try  to  tell  you  what  it  is  to  be  saved  ?  I  can 
not  tell  you.  No  man,  no  angel,  can  tell  you.  But  I 
can  hint  at  it.  For  my  text  brings  me  up  to  this  point: 
"Thou  shalt  be  saved.''  It  means  a  happy  life  here, 
and  a  peaceful  death  and  a  blissful  eternity.  It  is  a 
grand  thing  to  go  to  sleep  at  night,  and  to  get  up  in 
the  morning,  and  to  do  business  all  day,  feeling  that  all 
is  right  between  my  heart  and  God.  No  accident,  no 
sickness,,  no  persecution,  no  peril,  no  sword  can  do  me 
any  permanent  damage.  I  am  a  forgiven  child  of  God, 
and  he  is  bound  to  see  me  through.  He  has  sworn  he 
will  see  me  through.  The  mountains  may  depart,  the 
earth  may  burn,  the  light  of  the  stars  may  be  blown 
out  by  the  blast  of  the  judgment  hurricane,  but  life  and 
death,  things  present  and  things  to  come  are  mine, 

A  PEACEFUL  DEATH. 
Yea,  farther  than  that— it  rneans  a  peaceful  death. 


SALVATION  BY  FAITH. 


177 


Mrs.  Hemans,  Mrs.  Sigourney,  Dr.  Young,  and  almost 
all  the  poets  have  said  handsome  things  about  death. 
There  is  nothing  beautiful  about  it.  When  we  standby 
the  white  and  rigid  features  of  those  whom  we  love 
and  they  give  no  answering  pressure  of  the  hand  and 
no  returning  kiss  of  the  lip,  :we  do  not  want  anybody 
poetizing  around  about  us.  Death  is  loathsomeness 
and  midnight  and  the  wringing  of  the  heart  until  the 
tendrils  snap  and  curl  in  the  torture  unless  Christ  be 
with  us.  I  confess  to  you  of  an  infinite  fear,  a  consum- 
ing horror  of  death  unless  Christ  shall  be  with  me.  I 
would  rather  go  down  into  a  cave  of  wild  beasts  or  a 
jungle  of  reptiles  than  into  the  grave  unless  Christ  goes 
with  me.  Will  you  tell  me  that  I  am  to  be  carried  out 
from  my  bright  home  and  put  away  in  the  darkness  ? 
I  cannot  bear  darkness.  At  the  first  coming  of  the 
evening  I  must  have  the  gas  lit,  and  the  further  on  in 
life  I  get  the  more  I  like  to  have  my  friends  around  me. 
And  am  I  to  be  put  off  lor  thousands  of  years  in  a 
dark  place,  with  no  one  to  speak  to  ?  When  the  holi- 
days come  and  the  gifts  are  distributed  shall  I  add  no 
joy  to  the  ''Merry  Christmas or  the  ''Happy  New 
Year?''  Ah,  do  not  point  down  to  the  hole  in  the 
ground,  the  grave,  and  call  it  a  beautiful  place;  un- 
less there  be  some  supernatural  illumination.  I  shud- 
der back  from  it.    My  whole  nature  revolts  at  it. 

But  now  this  glorious  lamp  is  lifted  above  the  grave 
and  all  the  darkness  is  gone  and  the  way  is  clear.  I 
look  into  it  now  without  a  single  shudder.  Now  my 
anxiety  is  not  about  death;  my  anxiet^^  is  that  I  may 
live  aright,  for  I  know  that  if  my  life  is  consistent  when 
I  come  to  the  last  hour,  and  this  voice  is  silent,  and 
these  eyes  are  closed,  and  these  hands  with  which  I  beg 
for  your  eternal  salvation  to-day  are  folded  over  the 


178 


talmage's  sermons. 


still  heart,  that  then  I  shall  only  begin  to  live.  What 
power  is  there  in  anything  to  chill  me  in  the  last  hour 
if  Christ  wraps  around  me  the  skirt  of  his  own  gar- 
ment? What  darkness  can  fall  upon  my  ej^elids  then, 
amid  the  heavenly  daybreak?  O  death,  I  will  not  fear, 
thee  then!  Back  to  thy  cavern  of  darkness,  thou  rob- 
ber of  all  the  earth.  Fly,  thou  despoiler  of  families. 
Wich  this  battle-ax  I  hew  thee  in  twain  from  helmet  to 
sandal,  the  voice  of  Christ  sounding  all  over  the  earth, 
and  through  the  heavens:    '  'O  death,  I  will  be  thy  plague. 

0  grave,  I  will  be  thy  destruction.'' 

A  BLISSFUL  ETERNITY. 
To  be  saved  is  to  wq-ke  up  in  the  presence  of  Christ. 
You  know  when  Jesus  was  on  earth  how  happy  he  made 
every  house  he  went  into,  and  when  he  brings  us  up  to 
his  house  how  great  our  glee.  His  voice  has  more  music 
in  it  than  is  to  be  heard  in  all  the  oratorios  of  eternity. 
Talk  not  about  banks  dasked  w4th  efflorescence.  Jesus 
is  the  chief  bloom  of  heaven.  We  shall  see  the  very  face 
that  beamed  sympathy  in  Bethany  and  take  the  very 
hand  that  dropped  its  blood  from  the  short  beam  of  the 
the  cross.  Oh,  I  vvant  to  stand  in  eternity  with  him. 
Toward  that  harbor  I  steer.    Toward  that  goal  I  run. 

1  shall  be  satisfied  when  I  awake  in  his  likeness.  Oh, 
broken-hearted  men  and  women,  how  sweet  it  will  be 
in  that  good  land  to  pour  all  your  hardships,  and  be- 
reavements and  losses,  into  the  loving  ear  of  Christ, 
and  then  have  him  explain  why  it  was  best  for  you  to 
be  sick,  and  why  it  was  best  for  you  to  be  widowed, 
and  why  it  was  best  for  you  to  be  persecuted,  and  why 
it  was  best  for  you  to  be  tried,  and  have  him  point  to 
an  elevation  proportionate  to  your  disquietude  here, 

v5ni»-:  *'Y()ii  suffered  with  me  (^n  enrtli.  rome  up  now 
c\m\  l)c  glorified  with  me  in  heaven.' 


SALVATION  BY  FAITH. 


179 


A  MOTHERS  STORY. 


Some  one  went  into  a  house  where  there  had  been  a 
good  deal  of  trouble  and  said  to  the  woman  there: 
"You  seem  to  be  lonely."  "Yes/^  she  said,  ^'I  am  lone- 
ly.'^ "How  many  in  family? "Only  myself "Have 
you  had  any  children?"  "I  had  seven  children."  "Where 
are  they?"  "Gone."  "All  gone?"  "All."  "All  dead?" 
Then  she  breathed  a  long  sigh  into  the  loneliness,  and 
said:  "Oh,  sir,  Ihave  been  a  good  mother  to  thegrave." 
And  so  there  are  hearts  here  that  are  utterly  broken 
down  by  the  bereavements  of  life.  I  point  you  today 
to  the  eternal  balm  of  heaven.  Are  there  any  here  that 
I  am  missing  this  morning?  Ohyougoodwaiting-maid! 
your  heart's  sorrow  poured  in  no  human  ear,  lonely 
and  sad'  how  glad  you  will  be  when  Christ  shall  dis- 
l:>and  all  your  sorrows  and  crown  you  queen  unto  God 
and  the  iamb  forever!  O  aged  men  and  women,  fed  b^^ 
his  love  and  warmed  by  his  grace  for  three-score  years 
and  ten!  will  not  your  decrepitude  change  for  the  leap 
of  a  hart  when  you  come  to  look  face  to  face  upon 
him  whom,  having  not  seen,  you  love?  Oh,  that  will 
be  the  good  shepherd,  not  out  in  the  night  and  watch- 
ing to  keep  off  the  wolves,  but  with  the  lambs  reclining 
on  the  sunlit  hill!  That  will  be  the  captain  of  our  sal- 
vation, not  amid  the  roar,  and  crash,  and  boom  of  bat- 
tle, but  amid  the' disbanded  troop  keeping  victorious 
festivity.  That  will  be  the  bridegroom  of  the  church 
coming  from  the  altar,  the  bride  leaning  upon  his  arm 
while  he  looks  down  into  her  face  and  says;  ^ ^Behold, 
thou  art  fair,  my  love!   Behold,  thou  art  fair!" 


IN  QUEENSTOWN,  IRELAND. 


^  ! 


''For  of  such  is  the  Kingdom  of  Heaven.'' 

THE  NAME  OF  JE8U8. 

[Delivered  at  Queenstown,  Ireland,  Jan.,.29tli,  1890.] 
"A  name  which  is  above  every  name.''  Philippians,  ii,  9. 

A. GOOD  NAME. 

^^\sN  MY  way  from  the  Holy  land,  and  while  I  wait 
^\^!fr.  for  the  steamer  to  resnmeher  voyage  to  America, 
I  preach  to  you  from  this  text,  which  was  one  of 
PauVs  rapturous  and  enthusiastic  descriptions  of  the 
name  of  Jesus.  By  common  proverb  we  have  come  to 
believe  that  there  is  nothing  in  a  name,  and  so  parents 
sometimes  present  their  children  for  baptism  regardless 
of  the  title  given  them,  and  not  thinking  that  that  partic- 
ular title  will  be  either  a  hindrance  or  a  help.  Strange 

(181) 


182 


TALMAGE^S  SERMONS. 


mistake.  You  have  no  right  to  give  to  your  child  a 
name  that  is  lacking  either  in  euphony  or  in  moral 
meaning.  It  is  a  sin  for  you  to  call  your  child  Jehoia- 
kims  or  Tiglath-Pileser.  Because  you  yourself  may 
have  an  exasperating  name  is  noreason  why  you  should 
give  it  to  those  who  come  after  you.  But  how  often 
we  have  seen  some  name,  filled  with  jargon,  rattling 
down  from  generation  to  generation,  simply  because 
some  one  a  long  while  ago  happened  to  be  afflicted  with 
it  Institutions  and  enterprises  have  sometimes  with- 
out sufficient  deliberation  taken  their  nomenclature. 
Mighty  destinies  have  been  decided  by  the  significance 
of  a  name.  There  are  men  who  all  their  life  long  toil 
and  tussle  to  get  over  the  influence  of  some  unfortunate 
name.  While  we  may,  through  right  behavior  and 
Christian  demeanor,  outlive  the  fact  that  we  were  bap- 
tized by  the  name  of  a  despot,  or  an  infidel,  or  a  cheat^ 
how  much  better  it  would  have  been  if  we  all  could 
have  started  life  without  any  such  incumbrance.  When 
I  find  the  apostle,  in  my  text  and  in  other  parts  of  his 
writing,  breaking  out  in  dsecriptions  of  admiration  in 
regard  to  the  name  of  Jesus,  I  want  to  inquire  what 
are  some  of  the  characteristics  of  that  appellation.  And 
O  that  the  Saviour  himself,  while  I  speak,  might  fill  me 
with  his  own  presence,  for  we  never  can  tell  to  others 
that  which  we  have  not  ourselves  felt. 

AN  EASY  NAME. 
First,  this  name  of  Jesus  is  an  easy  name.  Sometimes 
we  are  introduced  to  people  whose  name  is  so  long  and 
unpronounceable  that  we  have  sharply  to  listen,  and 
to  hear  the  name  given  to  us  two  or  three  times,  be- 
fore we  venture  to  speak  it.  But  within  the  first  two 
years  the  little  child  clasps  its  hands,  and  looks  up,  and 
says  ''Jesus.''  Can  it  be,  amid  all  the  families  represent- 


THK  NAMK  OT.\]KSUS. 


183 


ed  here  today,  there  is  one  hoUvSehold  whei'e  the  Httle 
ones  speak  of ''father,"  and  ''mother/'  and  ''brother," 
and  "vsister,"  arid  not  of  "the  name  which  is  above  every 
name?"  Sometimes  we  forget  the  titles  of  our  best 
friends,  and  we  have  to  pause  and  think  before  we  can 
recall  the  name.  But  can  you  imagine  any  freak  of 
intellect  in  which  you  could  forget  the  Saviour's  desig. 
nation?  That  word  "Jesus"  seems  to  fit  the  tongue  in 
every  dialect.  When  the  voice  in  old  age  gets  feeble 
and  tremulous,  and  indistinct,  still  this  regal  word 
has  potent  utterance. 

Jesus,  I  love  Thy  charming  name, 

Tis  music  to  my  ear; 
Fain  would  I  sound  it  out  so  loud 

That  heaven  and  earth  might  hear. 

A  BEAUTIFUL  NAME. 

Still  further,  I  remark  it  is  a  beautiful  name.  You 
have  noticed  that  it  is  impossible  to  disassociate  a  name 
from  the  person  who  has  the  name.  So  there  are  names 
that  are  to  me  repulsive — I  do  not  want  to  hear  them 
at  all — while  those  very  names  are  attractive  to  you. 
Why  the  difference?  It  is  iDccause  I  happen  to  know 
persons  by  those  na^es  who  are  cross,  and  sour,  and 
snappish,  and  queer,  while  the  persons  you  used  to 
know  by  those  names  were  pleasant  and  attractive. 
As  we  cannot  dissociate  a  name  from  the  person  who 
holds  the  name,  that  consideration  makes  Christ's  name 
so  unspeakably  beautiful.  No  sooner  is  it  pronounced 
in  your  presence  than  yon  think  of  Bethlehem,  and 
Gethsemane,  and  Golgotha,  and  3^ou  see  the  loving  face, 
and  hear  the  tender  voice,  and  feel  the  gentle  touch. 
You  see  Jesus,  the  one  who,  though  banquetting  with 
heavenly  hierarches,  came  down  to  breakfast  on  the 
lisU  that  rough  men  had  jn^>"  ■  out  ul'  OvHCGsaret; 


184 


talmage's  sermons. 


Jesns,  the  one  who,  though  the  clouds  are  the  dust  of 
his  feet,  walked  footsore  on  to  the  road  to  Emmaus. 

Just  as  soon  as  that  name  is  pronounced  in  your 
presence  you  think  of  how  the  shining  one  gave  back 
the  centurion's  daughter,  and  how  he  helped  the  blind 
man  to  the  sunlight,  and  how  he  made  the  cripple's 
crutches  useless,  and  how  he  looked  down  into  the 
babe's  laughing  eyes,  and,  as  the  little  one  struggled  to 
go  to  him,  flung  out  his  arms  around  it,  and  impressed 
a  loving  kiss  on  its  brow,  and  said:  ^'Of  such  is  the 
kingdom  of  heaven/'  Beautiful  name— Jesus!  Itstands 
for  love,  for  patience,  for  kindness,  for  forbearance,  for 
self  sacrifice,  for  magnanimity.  It  is  aromatic  with  all 
odors  and  accordant  with  all  harmonies.  Sometimes 
I  see  that  name,  and  the  letters  seem  to  be  made  out  of 
tears,  and  then  again  they  look  like  gleaming  crowns. 
Sometimes  they  seem  to  as  though  twisted  out  of  the 
straw  on  which  he  lay,  and  then  as  though  built  out 
of  the  thrones  on  which  his  people  shall  reign.  Some- 
.  times  I  sound  that  word '"Jcvsus,"  and  I  hear  coming 
through  the  two  syllables  the  sigh  of  Gethsemane  and 
the  groan  of  Calvary;  and  again  I  sound  it,  and  it  is 
all  a-ripple  with  gladness  and  a-ring  with  hosanna. 
Take  all  the  glories  of  book  bindery  and  put  them 
around  the  page  where  that  name  is  printed.  On  Christ- 
mas morning  wreathe  it  on  the  wall. 

Let  it  drip  from  the  harp's  strings  and  thunder  out  in 
organ's  diapasom.  Sound  it  often,  sound  it  well,  until 
every  star  shall  seem  to  shine  it,  and  every  flower  shall 
seem  to  breathe  it,  and  mountain  and  sea,  and  day  and 
night,  and  earth  and  heaven  acclaim  in  full  chant: 
^ ^Blessed  be  his  glorious  name  forever;  The  name  that 
is  above  every  mame." 

Jesus,  the  name  h\'^:]i  " 
la  heaven  a?  '      •  ^ 


186 


TALMAGE^J^  SERMONS. 


To  the  repenting  soul,  to  the  exhausted  invalid,  to  the 
to  the  Sunday  school  girl,  to  the  snow  white  octogen- 
arian, it  is  beautiful.  The  old  man  comes  in  from  a 
long  walk,  and  tremblingly  opens  the  door,  and  hangs 
his  hat  on  the  old  nail,  and  sets  his  cane  in  the  usual 
corner,  and  lies  down  on  a  couch,  and  says  to  his  chil- 
dren and  grandchildren:  ^'My  dears,  I  am  going  to 
leave  you,"  They  say:  ^^Why,  where  are  you  going, 
grandfather?''  ''I  am  going  to  Jesus/'  And  so  the 
old  man  faints  away  into  heaven.  The  little  child 
comes  in  from  play  and  throws  herself  on  your  lap,  and 
says;  ^ 'Mamma,  I  am  so  sick,  I  am  so  sick."  And  you 
put  her  to  bed,  and  the  fever  is  worse  and  worse,  until 
in  some  midnight  she  looks  up  into  your  face  and  says; 
''Mamma,  kiss  me  good-by,  I  am  going  away  from  you." 
And  you  say:  ^'My  dear,  where  are  you  going  to?" 
And  she  says:  *'!  am  going  to  Jesus."  And  the  red 
cheeks  which  you  thought  was  the  mark  of  the  fever, 
only  turns  out  to  be  the  carnation  bloom  of  heaven. 
Oh  yes;  it  is  a  sweet  name  spoken  by  the  lips  of  child- 
hood, spoken  by  the  old  man. 

A  MIGHTY  NAME. 

Still  further  it  is  a  mighty  name.  Rothchildis  a  potent 
name  in  the  commercial  world,  Cuvier  in  the  scientific) 
Irving  a  powerful  name  in  the  literary  world,  Washing- 
ton an  influential  name  in  the  political  world  Welling- 
ton a  mighty  name  in  the  military  world,  but  tell  me 
any  name  in  all  the  earth  so  potent  to  awe,  and  lift, 
and  thrill,  and  rouse,  and  agitate,  and  bless,  as  this 
name  of  Jesus.  That  one  word  unhorsed  Saul,  and 
flung  Newton  on  his  face  on  ship's  deck,  and  today 
holds  400,000,000  of  the  race  with  omnipotent  spell. 
That  name  in  England  today  means  more  than  Victoria: 
in  Germany,  means  more  than  Emperor  William;  in 


THE  NAME  OF  JESUS. 


187 


France,  means  more  than  Carnot;  in  Italy,  means 
more  than  Hubert  of  the  present  or  Garibaldi  of  the 
past.  I  have  seen  a  man  bound  hand  foot  in  sin,  satan 
his  hard  task  master,  in  a  bondage  from  which  no  human 
power  could  deliver  him,  and  yet  at  the  pronunciation 
of  that  one  word  he  dashed  down  his  chains  and  marched 
out  forever  free.  I  have  seen  a  man  overwhelmed 
with  disaster,  the  last  hope  fled,  the  last  light  gone  out; 
that  name  pronounced  in  his  hearing,  the  sea  dropped, 
the  clouds  scattered,  and  a  sunburst  of  eternal  gladness 
poured  into  his  soul.  I  have  seen  a  man  hardened  in 
infidelity,  defiant  of  God,  full  of  scoff  and  jeer,  jocose  of 
the  judgment,  reckless  of  an  unending  eternity,  at  the 
mere  pronunciation  of  that  namd  blanch,  and  cower, 
and  quake,  and  pray,  and  sob,  and  moan,  and  believe, 
and  rejoice. 

Oh,  it  is  a  mighty  name!  At  its  utterance  the  last 
wall  of  sin  fall,  the  last  temple  of  superstition  crum- 
ble, the  last  juggernaut  of  cruelty  crash  to  pieces. 
That  name  will  first  make  all  the  earth  tremble,  and 
then  it  v^ill  make  all  the  nations  sing.  It  is  to  be  the 
password  of  every  gate  of  honor,  the  insignia  on  every 
flag,  the  shout  in  every  conflict.  All  the  millions  of 
the  earth  are  to  know  it.  The  red  horse  of  carnage 
seen  in  apoc  aly ptic  v^ision  and  the  black  horse  of  death, 
are  to  fall  back  on  their  haunches,  and  the  white  horse 
of  victory  will  go  forth,  mounted  by  him  who  hath 
the  moon  under  his  feet,  and  the  stars  of  heaven  for 
his  tiara.  Other  dominions  seem  to  be  giving  out;  this 
seems  to  be  enlarging.  Spain  has  had  to  give  up  much  of 
her  dominion.  Austria  has  been  wonderfully  depleted  in 
power.  France  has  had  to  surrender  some  of  her  favor- 
ite provinces.  Most  of  the  thrones  of  the  world  are  being 
lowered,  and  most  of  the  sceptres  of  the  world  are  be- 
ing shortened;   but  every  Bible  printed,  every  tract  dis- 


188 


talmage's  sermons. 


tributed,  every  Sunday  school  class  taught,  every 
school  founded,  every  church  established,  is  extending 
the  power  of  Christ's  name.  That  name  has  hardly 
been  spoken  under  the  Chinese  wall,  and  in  Siberian 
snow  castle,  in  Brazilian  grove  and  in  eastern  pagoda. 
That  name  is  to  swallow  up  all  other  names.  That 
crown  is  to  cover  up  all  other  crowns.  That  empire  is 
to  absorb  all  other  dominations. 

All  crimes  shall  cease,  and  ancient  frauds  shall  fail, 

Returning  justice  lift  aloft  her  scale;  . 

Peace  o'er  the  world  h^r  olive  wand  extend, 

And  white  robed  innocence  from  heaven  descend. 

AN  ENDURING  NAME. 

Still  further:  it  is  an  enduring  name.  You  clamber 
over  the  fence  of  the  graveyard  and  pull  aside  the 
weeds,  and  you  see  the  faded  inscription  on  the  tomb- 
stone. That  was  the  name  of  a  man  who  once  ruled 
all  that  town.  The  mightiest  names  of  the  world  have 
either  perished  or  are  perishing.  Gregory  VI,  Sancho 
of  Spain,  Conrad  I,  of  Germany,  Richard  I,  of  England, 
Louis  XVI,  of  France,  Catharine  of  Russia — mighty 
names  once,  that  made  the  world  tremble;  but  now, 
none  so  poor  as  to  do  them  reverence,  and  to  the  great 
mass  of  people  they  mean  absolutely  nothing;  they 
never  heard  of  them.  But  the  name  of  Christ  is  to 
endure  forever. 

It  will  be  perpetuated  in  art,  for  there  will  be  other 
Bellinis  to  depict  the  Madonna;  there  will  be  other 
Ghirlandaios  to  represent  Christ's  baptism;  there  will  be 
other  Bronzinos  to  show  us  Christ  visiting  the  spirits 
in  prison;  other  Giottos  to  appall  our  sight  with  the 
crucifixion. 

Tic?  Tiaiiie  will  be  preserved  in  song,  for  there  will  be 
other  Alexander  Popes  to  write  the  ''Messiah,"  other 
Dr.  \  ouiigs  to  portray  his  triumph,  other  Cowpers  to 


THE  NAME  OF  JESUS. 


189 


sing  his  love.  It  will  be  preserved  in  costly  and  magni- 
licent  architecture,  for,  Protestantism  as  well  as  Catho- 
licism is  yet  to  have  its  St.  Marks  and  its  St.  Peters. 

That  name  will  be  preserved  in  the  literature  of  the 
v/orld,  for  already  it  is  embalmed  in  the  best  books, 
and  there  will  be  other  Dr.  Paleys  to  write  the  ^^evi- 
dences of  Christianity,"  and  other  Richard  Baxters  to 
describe  the  Saviour's  coming  to  judgment. 

But  above  all,  ar-d  more  than  all,  that  name  will  be 
eiribalmed  in  the  memory  of  all  the  good  of  earth  and 
all  the  great  ones  of  heaven.  Will  the  delivered  bond- 
man of  earth  ever  forget  who  freed  him?  Y/ill  the 
blind  man  of  earth  forget  v/ho  gave  him  sight?  Will 
the  outcast  of  earth  forget  who  brought  him  home? 
No!  No! 

To  destro}^  the  memory  of  that  name  of  Christ,  you 
would  ha  ve  to  burn  up  all  the  Bibles  and  all  the  church- 
es on  earth,  and  then  in  a  spirit  of  universal  arson  go 
through  the  gate  of  heaven,  and  put  a  torch  to  the 
temples  and  the  towers  and  the  palaces,  and  after  ali 
that  city  was  v/rapped  in  awful  conflagration,  and  the 
citizens  came  out  and  gazed  on  the  ruin — even  then, 
they  would  hear  that  name  in  the  thunder  of  falling 
tower  and  the  crash  of  crumbling  vv'all,  and  see  it  in- 
wrought in  the  flying  banners  of  flame,  and  the  redeem- 
ed of  the  Lord  on  high  would  be  happy  3^et  and  cry  out: 
''Let  the  palaces  and  temples  burn,  we  have  Jesus  left!" 
''Blessed  be  his  glorious  name  for  ever  and  ever.  The 
name  that  is  above  every  name.'^ 

WHAT  NAME  WILL  YOU  CALL  CHRIST. 

Have  3^ou  ever  made  up  your  mind  by  what  name 
you  will  call  Christ  when  you  meet  him  in  heaven? 
You  know  he  has  many  names.  Will  you  call  him 
Jesus,  or  the  Annointed  One,  or  the  Messiah,  or  will 


190 


TAIvMAGK'S  skrmons. 


you  take  some  of  the  symbolical  names  which  on  earth 
you  learned  from  your  Bible? 

Wandering  some  day  in  the  garden  of  God  on  high, 
the  place  a-bloom  with  eternal  springtide,  infinite,  lux- 
uriance of  rose,  and  lily,  and  amaranth,  you  may  look 
up  into  his  face  and  say:  ''My  Lord,  thou  art  the  rose 
of  Sharon  and  the  lily  of  the  valley." 

Some  day,  as  a  soul  comes  up  from  earth  to  take  its 
place  in  the  firmament,  and  shine  as  a  star  for  ever  and 
ever,  and  the  luster  of  a  useful  life  shall  beam  forth 
tremulous  and  beautiful,  you  may  look  up  into  the  face 
of  Christ  and  say:  ''My  Lord,  thou  art  a  brighter  star 
— the  morning  star — a  star  forever.'' 

Wandering  some  day  amid  the  fountains  of  life  that 
toss  in  the  sunlight  and  fall  in  crash  of  peal  and  ame- 
thyst in  golden  and  crystaline  urn,  and  you  wander  up 
the  round  banked  river  to  where  it  first  tingles  its  silver 
on  the  rock,  and  out  of  the  chalices  of  love  you  drink  to 
honor  and  everlasting  joy,  you  may  look  up  into  the 
face  of  Christ  and  say:  "My  Lord,  thou  art  the  foun- 
tain of  living  water.'' 

Some  day,  wandering  amid  the  lambs  and  sheep  in 
the  heavenly  pastures,  feeding  by  the  rock,  rejoicing 
in  the  presence  of  him  who  brought  you  out  of  the  wol- 
fish wilderness  to  the  sheepfold  above,  you  may  look  up 
into  his  loving  and  watchful  eye  and  say:  "My  Lord, 
thou  art  the  shepherd  of  the  everlasting  hills." 

But  there  is  another  name  you  may  select.  T  will 
imagine  that  heaven  is  done.  Every  throne  has  its 
king.  Every  harp  has  its  harper.  Heaven  has  gather- 
ed up  everything  that  is  worth  having.  The  treasures 
of  the  whole  universe  have  poured  into  it.  The  song 
full.  The  ranks  full.  The  mansions  full.  Heaven  full. 
The  sun  shall  set  afire  with  splendor  the  domes  of  the 
temples  and  burnish  the  golden  streets  into  a  blaze 


o 

M 

H 

"A 


w 

H 
PR 

o 

O 


192 


talmage's  sermons. 


and  be  reflected  back  from  the  solid  pearl  of  the  twelve 
gates  and  it  shall  be  noon  in  heaven,  noon  on  the  river, 
noon  on  the  hills  noon  in  all  the  valleys — high  noon. 
Then  the  sonl  may  look  up  gradually  accustoming  itself 
to  the  vision,  shadmg  the  eyes  as  from  the  almost  in- 
sufferable splendor  of  the  noonday  light,  until  the  vision 
can  endure  it,  then  crying  out:  *'Thou  art  the  sun  that 
never  sets! 

At  this  point  I  am  staggered  with  the  thought  that 
notwithstanding  all  the  charm  in  the  name  of  Jesus, 
and  the  fact  that  it  is  so  easy  a  name,  and  so  beautiful 
a  name,  and  so  potent  a  name,  and  so  enduring  aname, 
there  are  people  who  find  no  charm  in  those  two 
syllables. 

O  COME  THIS  DAY  TO  CHRIST. 

O  come  this  day  and  see  whether  there  is  anything  in 
Jesus.  I  challenge  those  of  you  who  are  farther  from 
God  to  come  at  the  close  of  this  service  and  test  with 
me  whether  God  is  good,  and  Christ  is  gracious,  and 
the  Holy  Spirit  is  omnipotent.  I  challenge  you  to  come 
and  kneel  down  with  me  at  the  altar  of  mercy.  I  will 
kneel  on  one  side  of  the  altar  and  you  kneel  on  the  other 
side  of  it,  and  neither  of  us  will  rise  until  our  sins  are 
forgiven,  and  we  ascribe,  in  the  words  of  the  text,  all 
honor  to  the  name  -of  Jesus — you  pronouncing  it,  I  pro- 
nouncing it — the  name  that  is  above  every  name. 
His  worth  if  all  the  nations  knew, 
Sure  the  whole  earth  would  love  him  too. 

O  that  God  today,  by  the  power  of  his  holy  spirit, 
would  roll  over  3^ou  a  vision  of  that  blessed  Christ,  and 
you  would  begin  to  weep  and  pray  and  believe  and  re- 
joice. You  have  heard  of  the  warrior  who  went  out  to 
fight  against  Christ.  He  knew  he  was  in  the  wrong, 
Vv'liile  vv^aging  the  Vv^'ir  against  the  kingdom  of  Christ; 


THE  NAME  OF  JeSUS. 


193 


an  arrow  struck  him  and  he  fell.  It  pierced  him  in  the 
heart,  and  lying  there,  his  face  to  the  sun,  his  life  blood 
running  away,  he  caught  a  handful  of  the  blood  that 
was  rushing  out  in  his  right  hand,  and  held  it  up  before 
the  sun  and  cried  out:  '^O  Jesus  thou  hast  conquered!'^ 
And  if  today  the  arrow  of  God's  spirit  piercing  your 
soul,  you  felt  the  truth  of  what  I  have  been  tr3^ing  to 
proclaim,  you  would  surrender  now  and  forever  to  the 
Lord  who  bought  you.  Glorious  name!  I  know  not 
whether  you  will  accept  it  or  not;  but  I  will  tell  you 
one  thing  here  and  now,  in  the  presence  of  angels  and 
men,  I  take  him  to  be  my  Lord,  my  God,  m^^  pardon' 
my  peace,  my  life,  my  joy,  my  Salvation,  my  heaven. 
''Blessed  be  his  glorious  name  forever.  The  name  that  is 
above  every  name.''  ''Hallelujah!  unto  him  that  sitteth 
upon  the  throne  and  unto  the  lamb  forever  and  ever! 
Amen  and  amen  and  amen." 


HOME  AGAIN. 


THE  HOUSE  ON  THE  WSLL. 

[Delivered  in  Brooklyn,  N.  Y.,  February,  9th.,  1890.] 
*^And  the  young  men  that  were  spies,  went  in  and  brought  out 
Rahab,  and  her  father^  and  her  mother,  and  her  brethren,  and  all 
that  she  had.^'  Joshua,  vi,  23. 

^^jg^HEN,  only  a  few  weeks  ago,  I  visited  Jericho,  I 
"^ralEr  it  be  possible  that  this  dilapidated 

^^fW  place  is  the  Jericho  that  Mark  Antony  gave 
as  a  wedding  present  to  Cleopatra?  Where  are  the 
groves  of  palm  trees?  Where  are  Herod's  palaces  which 
once  stood  here?  Where  is  the  great  theatre  from  the 
stage  of  which  Salome  told  the  people  that  Herod  w^as 
dead?  Where  is  the  sycamore  tree  on  the  limb  of  which 
Zacchens  sat  when  Jesus  passed  this  place?  Where  is 
the  wreck  of  the  walls  that  fell  at  the  blowing  of  the 
rams'  horns?  But  the  fact  that  all  these  have  dis- 
appeared did  not  hinder  me  from  seeing  in  imagination 
the  smash  of  everything  on  that  fated  day,  save  one 

C195) 


196 


talmage's  sermons. 


4^ 


house  on  the  wall.  The  scene  centuries  ago  comes  back 
to  me  as  though  it  were  yesterday. 

A  SAD  HOUSE. 
There  is  a  very  sick  and  sad  house  in  the  city  of  Jeri- 
cho. What  is  the  matter?  Is  it  poverty?  No.  Worse 
than  that.  Is  it  leprosy?  No.  Worse  than  that.  Is 
it  death?  No.  Worse  than  that.  A  daughter  has 
forsaken  her  home.  By  what  infernal  plot  she  was 
induced  to  leave  I  know  not;  but  they  look  in  vain  for 
her  return.  Sometimes  they  hear  a  footstep  very  much 
like  hers*  and  they  start  up  and  saj;:  ^^She  comes!''  but 
only  to  sink  back  again  into  disappointment.  Alas! 
Alas!  The  father  sits  by  the  hour,  with  his  face  in  his 
hands,  saying  not  one  word.  The  mother's  hair  is  be- 
coming gray  too  fast,  and  she  begins  to  stoop  so  that 
those  who  saw  her  only  a  little  while  ago  in  the  street 
know  her  not  now  as  she  passes.  The  brothers  clench 
their  fists,  swearing  vengeance  against  the  despoiler  of 
their  home.  Alas!  will  the  poor  soul  never  come  back? 
There  is  a  long,  deep  shadow  over  all  the  household. 
Added  to  this  there  is  an  invading  army  six  miles  away, 
just  over  the  river,  coming  on  to  destroy  the  city;  and 
what  with  the  loss  of  their  child  and  the  coming  on  ot 
that  destructive  army,  I  think  the  old  people  wished 
that  they  could  die.  That  is  the  first  scene  in  this  drama 
of  the  Bible. 

TWO  SPIES. 

In  a  house  on  the  wall  of  the  city  is  that  daughter. 
That  is  her  home  now.  Two  spies  have  come  from  the 
invading  army  to  look  around  through  Jericho  and  see 
how  best  it  may  be  taken.  Yonder  is  the  lost  child,  in 
that  dwelling  on  the  wall  of  the  city.  The  police  hear 
of  it,  and  soon  there  is  the  shuflSling  of  feet  all  around 
about  the  door,  and  the  city  government  demands  the 


THE  HOUSE  ON  THE  WALL. 


197 


surrender  of  those  two  spies.  First,  Rahab — for  that 
was  the  name  of  the  lost  child — First,  Rahab  secretes 
the  two  spies  and  gets  their  pursuers  off  the  track,  but 
after  awhile  she  says  to  them:  ''I  will  make  a  bargain 
with  you.  I  will  save  your  life  if  you  will  save  my  life, 
and  the  life  of  my  father  and  my  mother,  and  my  broth- 
ers, and  my  sisters,  wh(fn  the  victorious  army  comes 
upon  the  city.''  O,  she  had  not  forgotten  her  home  yet, 
you  see.  The  wanderer  never  forgets  home.  Her  heart 
breaks  now  as  she  thinks  of  how  she  has  maltreated 
her  parents,  and  she  wishes  she  were  back  with  them 
again,  and  she  wishes  she  could  get  away  from  her  sin- 
ful enthrallment;  and  sometimes  she  looks  up  in  the  face 
of  the  midnight,  bursting  into  agonizing  tears.  No 
sooner  have  these  two  spies  promised  to  save  her  life, 
and  the  life  of  her  father,  and  mother,  and  brothers, 
and  sisters,  than  Rahab  takes  a  scarlet  cord  and  ties  it 
around  the  body  of  one  of  the  spies,  brings  him  to  the 
window,  and  as  lie  clambers  out — nervous  lest  she  have 
not  strength  to  hold  him — with  muscular  arms  such  as 
as  woman  seldom  has,  she  lets  him  down,  hand  over 
hand,  in  safety  to  the  ground.  Not  being  exhausted, 
she  ties  the  cord  around  the  other  spy,  brings  him  to 
the  windovv%  and  just  as  successfully  lets  him  down  to 
the  ground.  No  sooner  have  these  men  untied  the  scar- 
let cord  from  their  bodies  than  they  look  up,  and  they 
say:  ^'You  had  better  get  all  your  friends  in  this  house 
— your  father,  your  mother,  your  brothers  and  your 
sisters;  you  had  better  get  them  in  this  house.  And 
then,  after  you  have  them  here,  take  this  red  cord 
which  you  have  put  around  our  bodies  and  tie  it  across 
the  window,  and  when  our  victorious  army  comes  up, 
and  sees  that  scarlet  thread  in  the  window,  they  will 
Spare  this  house  and  all  who  are  in  it.   Shall  it  be  vso?" 


198  talmage's  sermons. 

cried  the  spies.  *^Aye,  aye,'^  said  Rahab,  from  the  win- 
dow, *4t  shall  be  so.''  That  is  the  second  vScene  in  this 
Bible  drama. 

FLY!  FLY! 

There  is  a  knock  at  the  door  of  the  old  man.  He 
looks  up  and  says:  ''Come  in,"  and  lo!  there  is  Rahab, 
the  lost  child;  but  she  has  no  time  to  talk.  They  gather 
in  excitement  around  her,  and  she  says  to  them:  ''Get 
ready  quickly,  and  go  with  me  to  my  hquse.  The  army 
iscoming!  Thetrumpet!  Makehaste!  Flyl  Theenemy"! 
That  is  the  third  scene  in  this  Bible  drama.. 

The  hosts  of  Israel  are  all  around  about  the  doomed 
city  of  Jericho.  Crash  goes  the  great  metropolis,  heaps 
on  heaps.  The  air  suffocating  with  the  dust,  and  hor- 
rible with  the  screams  of  a  dying  city.  All  the  houses 
flat  down.  All  the  people  dead.  Ah  no,  no.  On  a  crag 
of  the  wall — the  only  piece  of  the  wall  left  standing — 
there  is  a  house  which  we  must  enter.  There  is  a  family 
there  that  have  been  spared.  Who  are  they?  Let  us 
go  and  see.  Rahab,  her  father,  her  mother,  her  broth- 
ers, her  sisters,  all  safe,  and  the  only  house  left  stand- 
ing in  all  the  city.  What  saved  them?  Was  the  house 
more  firmly  built?  Oh,  no;  it  was  built  in  the  most 
perilous  place— on  the  wall;  and  the  wall  was  the  first 
thing  that  fell.  Was  it  because  her  character  w^as  any 
better  than  any  of  the  other  population  of  the  city? 
O,  no.  Why,  then,  was  she  spared  and  all  her  house- 
hold? Can  you  tell  me  why?  O,  it  was  the  scarlet  line 
in  the  window.  That  is  the  fourth  scene  in  this  Bible 
drama. 

THE  SCARLET  THREAD. 
Yv^hcn  the  destroying  angel  went  through  Egypt  it 
was  th'j  blood  of  the  lamb  on  the  door  posts  that  saved 
the  Israelites;  and  now  that  vengeance  has  come  upon 


200 


talmage's  sermons. 


Jericho  it  is  the  same  color  that  assures  the  safety  of 
Rahab  and  all  her  household.  My  friends,  there  are  foes 
coming  upon  us,  more  deadly  and  more  tremendous,  to 
overthrow  our  immortal  interests.  They  will  trample 
us  down  and  crush  us  out  forever,  unless  there  be  some 
skillful  mode  of  rescue  open.  The  police  of  death  already 
begin  to  clamor  for  our  surrender;  but,  blessed  be  God, 
there  is  a  way  out.  It  is  through  the  window,  and  by 
a  rope  so  saturated  with  the  blood  of  the  cross  that  it  - 
is  as  red  as  that  with  which  the  spies  were  lowered; 
and  if  once  our  souls  are  delivered,  then  the  scarlet  cord 
stretched  across  the  window  of  our  escape,  we  may 
defy  all  bombardment,  earthly  and  satanic. 

STRETCH  THIS  SCARLET  CORD. 

In  the  first  place,  carrying  out  the  idea  of  my  text,  we 
must  stretch  this  scarlet  cord  across  the  window  of 
rescue.  There  comes  a  time  when  a  man  is  surrounded. 
Whatisthat  in  thefront  door  of  his  soul?  Itisthethreat- 
enings  of  the  future.  What  is  that  in  the  back  door  of 
the  soul?  It  is  the  sins  of  the  past.  He  cannot  get  out 
of  either  of  those  doorwa^^s.  If  he  attempts  it  he  will 
be  cut  to  pieces.  What  shall  he  do?  Escape  through 
the  window  of  God's  mercy.  That  sunshine  has  been 
pouring  in  for  many  a  day.  God's  inviting  mercy. 
God's  pardoning  mercy.  God's  all  conquering  mercy. 
God's  everlasting  mercy.  But  you  say  the  window  is 
so  high.  Ah,  there  is  a  rope,  the  very  one  with  which 
the  cross  and  its  victim  were  lifted.  That  was  strong 
enough  to  hold  Christ,  and  it  is  strong  enough  to  hold 
you.  Bear  all  your  weight  upon  it,  all  your  hopes  for 
this  life,  all  your  hopes  for  the  life  that  is  to  come.  Es- 
cape now  through  the  window. 

i'But,"  you  say,  *'that  cord  is  too  small  to  save  me; 
that  salvation  will  never  do  at  all  for  such  a  sinner  as  i 


THE  HOUSE  ON  THE  WALL. 


201 


I  have  been."  I  suppose  that  the  rope  with  which 
Rahab  let  the  two  spies  to  tlie  ground  was  not  thick 
enough:  but  they  took  that  or  nothing.  And,  my  dear 
brother,  that  is  your  alternative.  There  is  only  one 
scarlet  line  that  can  save  you.  There  have  been  hun- 
dreds and  thousandswho  have  been  borne  away  in  safe- 
ty by  that  scarlet  line,  and  it  will  bear  you  away  in 
safety.  Do  you  notice  what  a  very  narrow  escape 
those  two  spies  had?  I  suppose  they  came  with  flus- 
tered cheek  and  with  excited  heart.  They  had  a  very  nar- 
row escape.  They  went  in  the  broad  door  of  sin;  but  how 
did  they  come  out?  They  came  out  of  the  w^indovv^. 
They  went  up  by  the  stairs  of  stone;  they  came  down 
on  a  slender  thread.  And  so,  my  friends,  we  go  easily 
and  unabashedly  into  sin,  and  all  the  doors  are  open; 
but  if  we  get  out  at  all  it  will  be  by  being  let  down  over 
precipices,  wriggling  and  helpless,  the  strong  grip  above 
keeping  us  from  being  dashed  on  the  rocks  beneath. 
It  is  easy  to  get  into  sin,  young  man.  It  is  not  so  easy 
to  get  out  of  it. 

THE  FIRST  STEP. 
A  young  man  goes  to  the  marble  counter  of  a  hotel. 
He  asks  for  a  brandy  smash — called  so,  I  suppose,  be- 
cause it  smashes  the  man  that  takes  it.  There  is  no 
intoxication  in  it.  As  the  young  man  receives  it  he 
does  not  seem  to  be  at  all  excited.  It  does  not  give 
any  glossiness  to  the  eye.  He  walks  home  in  beautiful 
apparel,  and  all  his  prospects  are  brilliant.  That 
drink  is  not  going  to  destroy  him,  but  it  is  the  first 
step  on  a  bad  road.  Years  have  passed  on,  and  I  see 
that  young  man  after  he  has  gone  the  whole  length  of 
dissipation.  It  is  midnight,  and  he  is  in  a  hotel — perhaps 
the  very  one  where  he  took  the  first  drink.  A  deli- 
rium is  on  him»  He  ri^e^  iVom  th^  bed  and  comes  to 


202 


talmage's  sermons. 


the  window,  and  it  is  easily  lifted;  so  he  lifts  it.  Then  he 
pushes  back  the  blinds  and  puts  his  foot  on  the  win- 
dow-sill. Then  he  gives  one  spring,  and  the  watch- 
man finds  his  disfigured  body,  unrecognizable,  on  the 
pavement.  O,  if  he  had  only  waited  a  little  while— if 
he  had  come  down  on  the  scarlet  ladder  that  Jesus  holds 
from  the  wall  for  him,  and  for  you,  and  for  me;  but  no, 
he  made  one  jump,  and  was  gone. 

A  minister  of  Christ  was  not  long  ago  dismissed  from 
his  diocese  for  intoxication,  and  in  a  public  meeting  he 
gave  this  account  of  his  sorrow;  He  said:  *'I  had  a 
beautiful  home  once;  but  strong  drink  shattered  it. 
I  had  beautiful  children;  but  this  fieildof  rum  took  their 
dimpled  hands  in  his  and  led  them  to  the  grave.  I  had 
a  wife — to  know  her  was  to  love  her;  but  she  sits  in 
wretchedness  to-night,  while  I  wander  over  the  earth. 
I  had  a  mother,  and  the  pride  of  her  life  was  I;  but  the 
thunderbolt  struck  her.  I  now  have  scarcely  a  friend 
in  the  world.  Taste  of  the  bitter  cup  I  have  tasted,  and 
then  answer  me  as  to  whether  I  have  any  hatred  for  the 
agency  of  my  ruin.  Hate  it?  I  hate  the  whole  damn- 
ing traffic.  I  would  to  God  to-night,  that  every  distill- 
ery was  in  flames,  for  then  in  the  glowing  sky  I  would 
write  in  the  smoke  of  the  ruin-  ^^V7oe  to  him  that  put- 
teth  the  bottle  to  his  neighbor's  lips!"  That  minister 
of  the  gospel  went  in  through  the  broad  door  of  temp- 
tation; he  came  out  of  the  window.  And  when  I  see 
the  temptations  that  are  about  us  in  all  countries,  and 
when  I  know  the  proclivities  to  sin  in  every  man's  heart, 
I  see  that  if  any  of  us  escape  it  will  be  a  very  narrow 
escape.  O,  if  we  have,  my  friends,  got  off  from  our  sin, 
let  us  tie  the  scarlet  thread  by  which  we  have  been  sav- 
ed across  tlie  window.  Let  us  do  it  in  praise  of  him 
wliosc  dyed  it  that  color.   Let  it  be  in  announce- 


THK  house:  ok  tHL  WALL. 


203 


ment  of  the  fact  that  we  shall  no  more  he  fatally  assault- 
ed. "There  is  now  no  condemnation  to  them  that  are 
in  Jesus  Christ.*^  Then  let  all  the  forces  of  this  world 
come  up  in  cavalry  charge,  and  let  spirits  of  darkness 
come  on — an  infernal  storming  party  attempting  to 
take  our  soul — this  rope  twisted  from  these  words. 
*^The  blood  of  Jesus  Christ  cleanseth  from  all  sin,'^  will 
hurl  them  back  defeated  forever. 

PROTECT  YOUR  HOUSEHOLD. 
Still  further,  we  must  take  this  red  cord  of  the  text 
and  stretch  it  across  the  window  of  our  households. 
When  the  Israelitish  army  came  up  against  Jericho,  they 
said:  "What  is  that  in  the  window?"  Some  one  said: 
"That  is  a  scarlet  line."  "Oh,"  said  some  one  else, 
"that  must  be  the  house  that  was  to  be  spared.  Don^t 
touch  it."  That  Ime  was  thick  enough,  and  long 
enough, and  conspicuous  enough  to  save  Rahab,  her 
father,  her  mother,  her  brothers  and  her  sisters — the 
entire  family.  Have  our  households  as  good  pro- 
tection? You  have  bolts  on  the  front  door  and  on  the 
back,  and  fastenings  to  the  window,  and  perhaps  burg- 
lar alarms,  and  perhaps  aij  especial  watchman  blow- 
ing his  whistle  at  midnight  before  your  dwelling;  but 
all  that  cannot  protect  your  household.  Is  there  on 
our  houses  the  sign  of  a  Saviour's  sacrifice  and  mercy? 
Is  there  a  scarlet  line  in  the  window?  Have  your  chil- 
dren been  consecrated  to  Christ?  Have  you  been  wash- 
ed in  the  blood  of  the  atonement?  In  what  room  do 
you  have  family  prayers?  Show  me  where  it  is  you  are 
accustomed  to  kneel.  The  sky  is  black  with  the  com- 
ing deluge.  Is  your  family  inside  or  outside  of  the  ark? 
It  is  a  sad  thing  for  a  man  to  reject  Christ:  but  to  lie 
down  and  in  the  night  of  sin,  across  the  path  of  heaven, 
so  that  his  family  come  up  and  trip  over  him — that  is 


204 


I^ALMAGE's  SERMONg. 


terrific.  It  is  a  sad  thing  for  a  mother  to  reject  Christ ; 
but  to  gather  her  family  around  her,  aud  then  take  them 
by  the  hand  and  lead  them  out  into  the  paths  of  world- 
liness,  away  from  God  and  heaven,  alas!  alas!  There 
may  be  geranium  and  cactus  in  that  family  window, 
and  upholstery  hovering  over  it,  and  childish  faces  look- 
ing out  of  it,  but  there  is  no  scarlet  thread  stretched 
across  it.  Although  that  house  may  seem  to  be  on  the 
best  street  in  all  the  town  or  city,  it  is  really  on  the 
edge  of  a  marsh,  across  which  sweep  poisonous  malarias 
and  it  has  a  sandy  foundation,  and  its  splendor  will 
come  down,  and  great  will  be  the  fall  of  it.  A  home 
without  God!  A  prayerless  father!  An  undevout 
mother!  Awful!  Awful!  Is  that  you?  Will  you  keep 
on,  my  brother,  on  the  wrong  road,  and  take  your 
loved  ones  with  you?  Time  is  so  short  that  we  can- 
not waste  any  of  it  in  apologies,  or  indirections,  cir- 
cumlocutions. You  owe  to  your  children,  O  father,  O 
mother,  more  than  food,  more  than  clothing,  more  than 
shelter — you  owe  them  the  example  of  a  prayerful,  con- 
secrated, pronounced,  out  and  out  Christian  life.  You 
cannot  afford  to  keep  it  away  from  them. 

MY  GOOD  MOTHER. 
Now,  as  I  stand  here,  you  do  not  see  any  hand  out- 
stretched towards  me,  and  yet. there  are  hands  on  both 
my  shoulders.  They  are  hands  of  parental  benediction. 
It  is  quite  a  good  many  years  ago  now  since  we  folded 
those  hands  as  they  began  their  last  sleep  on  the  banks  of 
the  Raritan,  in  the  village  cemetery;  but  those  hands 
are  stretched  out  towards  me  to-day,  and  they  are 
just  as  warm  and  they  are  just  as  gentle  as  when  I  sat 
on  her  knee  at  five  years  of  age.  And  I  shall  never  shake 
off  those  hands.  I  do  not  want  to.  They  have  helped 
me  so  much  a  thousand  times  already,  and  I  do  not  ex- 


THE  HOUSE  ON  THE  WALL. 


205 


pect  to  have  a. trouble  or  a  trial  between  this  and  my 
grave  where  those  hands  will  not  help  me.  It  was  not 
a  very  splendid  home,  as  the  world  calls  it;  but  we  had 
a  family  bible  there,  well  worn  by  tender  perusal;  and 
there  was  a  family  altar  there,  where  we  knelt  morning 
and  night;  and  there  was  a  holy  Sabbath  there;  and 
stretched  in  a  straight  line  or  hung  in  loops  or  festoons 
there  was  a  scarlet  line  in  the  window.  O,  the  tender, 
precious,  blessed  memory  of  a  Christian  home!  Is  that 
the  impression  you  are  making  upon  your  children? 
When  you  are  dead — and  it  will  not  be  long  before  you 
are — when  you  are  dead,  will  your  child  say:  ^'If  there 
ever  was  a  good  Christian  father,  mine  was  one.  If 
there  ever  was  a  good  Christian  mother,  mine  was  one?''* 

Still  further:  We  want  this  scarlet  line  of  the  text 
drawn  across  the  window  of  our  prospects .  I  see  Rahab 
and  father,  and  her  mother,  and  her  brothers,  and  her 
sisters  looking  out  over  Jericho,  the  city  of  palm-trees, 
and  across  the  river,  and  over  at  the  army  invading, 
and  then  up  to  the  mountains  and  the  sky.  Mind  you, 
this  house  was  on  the  wall,  and  I  suppose  the  prospect 
from  the  window  must  have  been  very  wide.  Besides 
that,  I  do  not  think  that  the  scarlet  line  at  all  interfered 
with  the  view  of  the  landscape.  The  assurance  it  gave 
of  safety  must  have  added  to  the  beauty  of  the  country. 
To-day,  my  friends,  we  sit  in  the  window  of  earthly 
prospects,  and  we  look  off  towards  the  hills  of  heaven 
and  the  landscape  of  eternal  beauty.  God  has  opened 
the  window  for  us,  and  we  look  out.  We  only  get  a 
dim  outline  of  the  inhabitants.  We  now  only  here  and 
there  catch  a  note  of  the  exquisite  harmony. 

THE  SCARLET  LINE  AT  THE  WINDOW. 

But  blessed  be  God  for  this  scarlet  line  in  the  window. 
That  tells  me  that  the  blood  of  Christ  bought  that  home. 


206 


talmage's  sermons. 


for  m^^  soul,  and  I  shall  go  there  when  my  work  is  done 
And  as  I  put  my  hand  on  that  scarlet  line,  every -thing  in 
the  future  brightens.  My  eyesight  gets  better,  and  the 
robes  of  the  victors  are  more  lustrous,  and  our  loved 
ones  who  went  away  some  time  ago — they  do  not  stand 
any  more  with  their  backs  to  us,  but  their  faces  are 
this  way  and  their  voices  drop  through  this  Sabbath 
air,  saying  with  all  tenderness  and  sweetness,  *'Come! 
Come!  Com^!"  And  the  child. that  you  think  of  only  as 
buried — why,  there  she  is,  and  it  is  May  day  in  heaven; 
and  they  gather  the  amaranth,  and  they  pluck  the 
lilies,  and  they  twist  then  into  a  garland  for  her  brow, 
and  she  is  one  of  the  May  queens  of  heaven.  O,  do  you 
think  they  could  see  our  waving  to-day? 

It  is  quite  a  pleasant  day,  pretty  clear  and,  not  many 
clouds  in  the  sky.  I  wonder  if  they  can  see  us  from 
that  good  land?  I  think  they  can.  If  from  this  win- 
dow of  earthly  prospects  we  can  almost  see  them,  then 
from  their  towers  of  light  I  think  they  can  fully  see  us. 
And  so  I  wave  them  the  glory,  and  I  wave  them  the 
joy,  and  I  say:  ^'Have  you  got  through  with  all  your 
troubles? And  their  voices  answer:  *'God  hath  wiped 
away  all  tears  from  our  eyes.''  I  say:  *'Is  it  as  grand 
up  there  as  you  thought  it  would  be?"  And  the  voice 
answers:  ^'Eye  hath  not  seen  nor  ear  heard,  neither 
hath  it  entered  into  the  heart  of  man,  the  things  which 
God  hath  prepared  for  those  that  love  him"  I  say: 
''Do  you  have  any  more  struggle  for  bread?"  and  they 
answer:  ''We  hunger  no  more,  we  thirst  no  more." 
And  I  say:  ''Have  you  been  out  to  the  cemetery  of  the 
golden  city?"  and  they  answer:  "There  is  no  death 
here."  And  I  look  out  through  the  heavens,  and  say: 
"Where  do  you  get  your  light  from  nights,  and  what 
do  you  burn  in  the  temple?"   and  they  answer:  "There 


talmage's  skrmons. 


IS  no  night  here,  and  we  have  no  need  of  candle  or  of 
star/'  And  I  say:  * 'What  book  do  you  sing  out  of?" 
and  they  answer:  ''The  Hallelujah  Chorus.'^  And  I 
say:  "In  the  splendor  and  magnificence  of  the  city, 
don't  you  ever  get  lost?"  and  they  answer:  "The 
Lamb  which  is  in  the  midst  of  the  throne  leadeth  us 
to  living  fountains  of  water."  O  how  near  they  seem. 
Their  wings — do  you  not  feel  them?  Their  harps — do 
you  not  hear  them?  And  all  that  through  the  window 
of  our  earthly  prospects,  across  which  stretcheth  the 
scarlet  line.  Be  that  my  choice  color  forever.  Is  it  too 
glaring  for  you?  Do  you  like  the  blue  because  it  reminds 
you  of  the  sky,  or  the  green  because  it  makes  you  think 
of  the  foliage,  or  the  black  because  it  is  in  the  shadows 
of  the  night?  I  take  the  scarlet  because  it  shall  make 
me  think  of  the  price  that  was  paid  for  my  soul.  O  the 
blood!  the  blood!  the  blood  of  the  Lamb  of  God  that 
taketh  away  the  sin  of  the  world. 

I  see  where  you  are*  You  are  at  the  cross  roads. 
The  next  step  decides  everything.  Pause  before  you 
take  it;  but  do  not  pause  too  long.  I  hear  the  blast 
of  the  trumpet  that  wakes  the  dead.  Look  out!  Look 
out!  For  in  that  day,  and  in  our  closing  moment  on 
earth,  better  than  any  other  defense  or  barricade,  how- 
ever high  or  broad  or  stupendous,  will  be  one  little,  thin, 
scarlet  thread  in  the  window. 


THE  GLORIOUS  CHRIST. 

(Delivered  in  Brooklyn,  N.  Y.,  February  16,  1890.) 
*'He  that  Cometh  from  above  is  above  all:'  John  ih\  31. 

CHRIST  IS  ABOVE  ALL. 

'<ST^^HE  most  conspicuous  character  of  history  steps 
^1  out  upon  the  platform.  The  finger  which, 
diamonded  with  hght,  pointed  down  to  him 
from  the  Bethlehem  sky,  was  only  a  ratification  of 
the  finger  of  prophecr,  the  finger  of  genealogy,  the 
finger  of  chronology,  the  finger  of  events—all  five  fingers 

209 


210 


TALMAGE'S  SERMONS. 


pointing  in  one  direction.  Christ  is  the  overtopping 
figure  of  all  time.  He  is  the  vox  humana  in  all  music, 
the  most  graceful  line  in  all  sculpture,  the  most  exquisite 
mingling  of  lights  and  shades  in  all  painting,  the  acme 
of  all  climaxes,  the  dome  of  all  cathedraled  grandeur,  <f 
and  the  peroration  of  all  splendid  language. 

The  Greek  alphabet  is  made  up  of  twenty -four  letters, 
and  when  Christ  compared  himself  to  the  first  and  the 
last  letter,  the  alpha  and  the  omega,  he  appropriated 
to  himself  all  the  splendors  that  you  can  spell  out  either 
with  those  two  letters  or  all  the  letters  between  them. 
''I  am  the  alpha  and  the  omega,  the  beginning  and  the 
end,  the  first  and  the  last*  Or  if  you  prefer  the  words 
of  the  text,  ''above  all.'' 

What  does  it  mean?  It  means  after  you  have  piled 
up  all  Alpine  and  Himalayan  altitudes,  the  glory  of 
Christ  would  have  to  spread  its  wings  and  descend  a 
thousand  leagues  to  touch  those  summits.  Pelion  is  a 
high  mountain  of  Thessaly,  Osso,  a  high  mountain, 
and  Olympus,  a  high  mountain,  but  mythology  tells 
us  when  the  giants  warred  against  the  gods,  they  piled 
up  these  three  mountains,  and  from  the  top  of  them 
proposed  to  scale  the  heavens,  but  the  height  was  not 
great  enough,  and  there  was  a  complete  failure.  And 
after  all  the  giants — Isaiah  and  Paul,  prophetic  and 
apostolic  giants;  Raphael  and  Michael  Angelo,  artistic 
giants;  cherubim,  and  seraphim,  and  archangel,  celestial 
giants- -have  failed  to  climb  to  the  top  of  Christ's 
glory,  they  might  all  well  unite  in  the  words  of  the 
text:    ''He  that  cometh  from  above  is  above  all." 

First,  Christ  must  be  above  all  else,  in  our  preaching. 
There  are  so  many  books  on  homiletics  scattered 
through  the  country  that  all  laymen,  as  well  as  all 
chrf^ymm,  have  made  up  tbdr  minrls  what  sermons 


\ 


THE  GLORIOUS  CHRIST. 


211 


ought  to  be.  That  sermon  is  most  effectual,  which 
most  pointedly  puts  forth  Christ  as  the  pardon  of  all 
sin  and  the  correction  of  all  evil — individual,  social 
political,  national.  There  is  no  reason  v^hy  we  should 
ring  the  endless  changes  on  a  few  phrases.  There  are 
those  who  think  that  if  an  exhortation  or  a  discourse 
have  frequent  mention  of  justification,  sanctification, 
covenant  of  works,  and  covenant  of  grace,  that  there- 
fore it  must  be  profoundly  evangelical,  while  they  are 
suspicious  of  a  discourse  which  presents  the  same  truth, 
but  under  different  phraseology.  Now,  I  say  there  is 
nothing  in  all  the  opulent  realm  of  Anglo-Saxonism,  of 
all  the  word-treasures  that  we  inherited  from  the  Latin, 
and  the  Greek,  and  the  Indo-European,  but  w^e  have  a 
right  to  marshal  it  in  religious  discussion.  Christ  sets 
the  example.  His  illustrations  were  from  the  grass, 
the  flowers,  the  spittle,  the  salve,  the  barnyard  fowl, 
the  crystals  of  salt,  as  well  as  from  the  seas  and  the 
stars;  and  we  do  not  propose  in  our  Sunday-school 
teaching  and  pulpit  address  to  be  put  on  the  limits. 

I  know  that  there  is  a  great  deal  said  in  our  day 
against  words  as  though  they  were  nothing.  They 
may  be  misused,  but  they  have  an  imperial  power. 
They  are  the  bridge  between  soul  and  soul,  between 
Almighty  God  and  the  human  race.  What  did  God 
write  upon  the  tables  of  stone?  Words.  What  did 
Christ  utter  on  Mount  Olivet?  Words.  Out  of  what 
did  Christ  strike  the  spark  for  the  illumination  of  the 
universe?  Out  of  words.  'Xet  there  be  light,'*  and 
light  was.  Of  course  thought  is  the  cargo  and  words 
are  only  the  ship,  but  how  fast  would  your  cargo  get 
on  without  the  ship?  What  you  need,  my  friend,  in 
all  your  work  in  your  Sabbath-school  class,  in  3^our 
reformatory  institutions,  and  what  we  all  need  is  to 


212 


talmage's  sermons. 


enlarge  our  vocabulary  when  we  come  to  speak  about 
God  and  Christ  and  heaven.  We  ride  a  few  old  words 
to  death,  when  there  is  such  illimitable  resource.  Shake- 
speare employed  15,000  different  words  for  dramatic 
purposes;  Milton  employed  8,000  different  words  for 
poetic  purposes;  Rufus  Choate  employed  over  11,000 
different  words  for  legal  purposes;  but  the  most  of  us 
have  less  than  1,000  words  that  we  can  manage,  less 
than  500,  and  that  makes  us  so  stupid. 

When  we  come  to  set  forth  the  love  of  Christ,  we  are 
going  to  take  tenderest  phraseology  wherever  we  find 
it,  and  if  it  has  never  been  used  in  that  direction  before, 
all  the  more  shall  we  use  it.  When  we  come  to  speak 
of  the  glory  of  Christ,  the  conqueror,  we  are  going  to 
draw  our  similes  from  triumphal  arch,  and  oratorio, 
and  everything  grand  and  stupendous.  The  French 
navy  have  eighteen  flags  by  which  they  give  signal, 
but  those  eighteen  flags  they  can  put  into  66,000 
different  combinations.  And  I  have  to  tell  you  these 
standards  ot  the  cross  may  be  lifted  into  combinations, 
infinite,  and  varieties  everlasting.  And  let  me  say  to 
these  young  men  who  come  from  the  theological  sem- 
inaries into  our  services  every  Sabbath,  and  are  after 
a  while  going  to  preach  Jesus  Christ,  you  will  have  the 
largest  liberty  and  unlimited  resource.  You  only  have 
to  present  Christ  in  your  own  way. 

Jonathan  Edwards  preached  Christ  in  the  severest 
argument  ever  penned,  and  John  Bunyan  preached 
Christ  in  the  sublimest  allegory  ever  composed,  a 
Edward  Payson,  sick  and  exhausted,  leaned  up  against 
the  side  of  the  pulpit  and  wept  out  his  discourse,  while 
George  Whitefield,  with  the  manner  and  the  voice  and 
the  start  of  an  actor,  overwhelmed  his  auditory.  It 
would  have  been  a  different  thing  if  Jonathan  Edwards 


THE  GLORIOUS  CHRIST. 


had  tried  to  write  and  dream  about  the  pilgrim's  pro- 
gress to  the  celestial  city,  or  JohnBunyan  had  attempt- 
ed an  essay  on  the  human  will. 

Brighter  than  the  light,  fresher  than  the  fountains, 
deeper  than  the  seas,  are  all  these  gospel  themes.  Song 
has  no  melody,  flowers  have  no  sweetness,  sunset  sky 
has  no  color,  compared  with  these  glorious  themes. 

These  harvests  of  grace  spring  up  quicker  than  we 
can  sickle  them.  Kindling  pulpits  with  their  fire,  and 
producing  revolutions  with  their  power,  lighting  up 
dying  beds  with  their  glory,  the j  are  the  sweetest 
thought  for  the  poet,  and  they  are  the  most  thrilling 
illustration  for  the  orator,  and  they  offer  the  most  in- 
tense scene  for  the  artist,  and  they  are  the  ambassador 
of  the  sky,  all  enthusiasm.  Complete  pardon  for  direst 
guilt.  Sweetest  comfort  for  ghastliest  agony.  Bright- 
est hope  for  grimmest  death.  Grandest  resurrection 
for  darkest  sepulcher.  Oh,  what  a  gospel  to  preach! 
Christ  over  all  in  it.  His  birth,  his  suffering,  his  mira- 
cles, his  parables,  his  sweat,  his  tears,  his  blood,  his 
atonement,  his  intercession — what  glorious  themes! 
Do  we  exercise  faith  ?  Christ  is  its  object.  Do  we  have 
love  ?  It  fastens  on  Jesus.  Have  we  a  fondness  for  the 
church?  It  is  because  Christ  died  for  it.  Have  we  a 
hope  of  heaven  ?  It  is  because  Jesus  went  ahead,  the 
herald  and  the  forerunner. 

The  royal  robe  of  Demetrius  was  so  costly,  so  beauti- 
ful, that  after  he  had  put  it  off",  no  one  ever  dared  put  it 
on;  but  this  robe  of  Christ,  richer  than  lhat,  the  poorest 
and  the  wannest  and  the  w^orst  may  wear.  Where 
sin  abounded,  grace  may  much  more  abound. 
^*0h,  my  sins,  my  sins!^'  said  Martin  Luther  to 
Staupitz,  '*my  sins,  my  sins!''  The  fact  is,  that  the 
brawny  German  student  had  found  a  Latin  bible  that 


214 


TALMAGE^S  SERMONS. 


made  him  quake,  and  nothing  else  ever  did  make  him 
quake;  and  when  he  found  how,  through  Chtist,  he 
was  pardoned  and  saved,  he  wrote  to  a  friend,  saying: 
^^Come  over  and  join  us  great  and  awful  sinners  saved 
by  the  grace  of  God.  You  seem  to  be  only  a  slender 
sinner,  and  you  don^t  much  extol  the  mercy  of  God;^ 
but  we,  that  have  been  such  very  awful  sinners  praise 
his  grace  the  more  now,  that  we  have  been  redeemed. 
Can  it  be  that  you  are  so  desperately  egotistical  that 
you  feel  yourself  in  first-rate  spiritual  trim,  and  that 
from  the  root  of  the  hair  to  the  tip  of  the  toe  you  are 
scarless  and  immaculate  ?  What  you  need  is  a  looking- 
glass,  and  here  it  is  in  the  bible.  Poor,  and  wretched, 
and  miserable,  and  blind,  and  naked  from  the  crown  of 
the  head  to  the  sole  of  the  foot,  full  of  wounds  and 
putrefying  sores.  No  health  in  us.  And  then  take 
the  fact  that  Christ  gathered  up  all  the  notes  against 
us,  and  paid  them,  and  then  offered  us  the  receipt. 

And  how  much  we  need  him  in  our  sorrows !  We  are 
independent  of  circumstances  if  we  have  his  grace. 
Why,  he  made  Paul  sing  in  his  dungeon,  and  under 
that  grace  St.  John  from  desolate  Patmos  heard  the 
blast  of  the  apocalyptic  trumpets.  After  all  other 
candles  have  been  snuffed  out,  this  is  the  light  that  gets 
brighter  and  brightei:  into  the  perfect  day,  and  after, 
under  the  hard  hoofs  of  calamity,  all  the  pools  of  world- 
ly enjoyment  have  been  trampled  into  deep  mire,  at  the 
foot  of  the  eternal  rock,  the  Christian,  from  cups  of 
granite,  lily  rimmed  and  vine  covered,  puts  out  the 
thirst  of  his  soul. 

Again  I  remark  that  Christ  is  above  all  in  dying 
alleviations.  I  have  not  any  sympathy  with  the  mor- 
bidity abroad  about  our  demise.  The  emperor  of  Con- 
stantinople arranged  that  the  day  of  his  coronation, 


THE  GLOiJOUS  CHRIST. 


215 


the  stonemason  should  come  and  consult  him  about 
the  tombstone  that  after  awhile  he  would  need.  And 
there  are  men  who  are  monomaniacal  on  the  subject 
of  departure  from  this  life  by  death,  and  the  more  they 
think  of  it,  the  less  they  are  prepared  to  go.  This  is 
an  unmanHness  not  worthy  of  you,  not  worthy  of  me. 

Saladin,  the  greatest  conqueror  of  his  day,  while  dy- 
ing, ordered  that  the  tunic  he  had  on  him  be  carried 
after  his  death  on  his  spear  at  the  head  of  his  arm3^, 
and  that  then  the  soldier,  ever  and  anon,  should  stop 
and  say:  ^ ^Behold,  all  that  is  left  of  Saladin,  the 
emperor  and  conqueror !  Of  all  the  states  he  conquered, 
of  all  the  wealth  he  accumulated,  nothing  did  he  retain 
but  this  shroud. I  have  no  sympathy  with  such  be- 
havior, or  such  absurd  demonstration,  or  with  much 
that  we  hear  uttered  in  regard  to  departure  from  this 
life  to  the  next.  There  is  a  commonsensical  idea  on 
this  subject  that  you  and  I  need  to  consider — that 
there  are  only  two  styles  of  departure.  A  thousand 
feet  underground,  by  light  of  torch  toiling  in  a  miner's 
shaft,  a  ledge  of  rock  may  fall  upon  us  and  we  may 
die  a  miner's  death.  Far  out  at  sea,  falling  from  the 
slippery  ratlines  and  broken  on  the  halyards,  we  may 
die  a  sailor's  death.  On  mission  of  mercy  in  hospital, 
amid  broken  bones,  and  reeking  leprosies,  and  raging 
fevers,  we  may  die  a  philanthropist's  death.  On  the 
field  of  battle,  serving  God  and  our  countr^^,  slugs 
through  the  heart,  the  gun  carriage  may  roll  over  us, 
and  we  may  die  a  patriot's  death.  But,  after  all,  there 
are  only  two  styles  of  departure — the  death  of  the 
righteous,  and  the  death  of  the  wicked — and  we  all 
want  to  die  the  former.  * 

God  grant  that  when  that  hour  comes  you  may  be 
at  home.    Yon  w.nnt  tlie  hand  of  youi  kindred  in  your 


216 


talmage's  sermons. 


hand.  You  want  yonr  children  to  surround  you. 
You  want  the  light  on  your  pillow  from  eyes  that 
have  long  reflected  your  love.  You  want  the  room 
still.  You  do  not  want  any  curious  strangers  stand- 
ing around  watching  you.  You  want  your  kindred 
from  afar  to  hear  your  last  prayer.  I  think  that  is 
the  wish  of  all  of  us.  But  is  that  all?  Can  earthly 
friends  hold  us  up  when  the  billows  of  death  come  up 
to  the  girdle  ?  Can  human  voices  charm  open  heaven's 
gate  ?  Can  human  hand  pilot  us  through  the  narrows 
of  death  into  heaven's  harbor?  Can  any  earthly 
friendship  shield  us  from  the  arrows  of  death,  and  in 
the  hour  when  Satan  shall  practice  upon  us  his  infernal 
archery?  No,  no,  no,  no!  Alas!  Poor  soul,  if  that  is 
all.  Better  die  in  the  wilderness,  far  from  tree  shadow 
and  from  fountain,  alone,  vultures  circling  through  the 
air  waiting  for  our  body,  unknown  to  men,  and  to  have 
no  burial,  if  only  Christ  could  say  through  the  solitudes: 
^'I  will  never  leave  thee,  I  will  never  forsake  thee." 
From  that  pillow  of  stone  a  ladder  Vv^ould  soar  heaven- 
ward, angels  coming  and  going,  and  across  the  solitude 
and  barrenness  would  come  the  sweet  notes  of  heavenly 
minstrelsy. 

DYING  WORDS  OF  SAINTS. 
Gorden  Hall,  far  from  home,  dying  in  the  door  of  a 
heathen  temple,  said:  ^'Glory  to  thee,  O  God!''  What 
did  dying  Wilberforce  say  to  his  wife?  ''Come  and  sit 
beside  me,  and  let  us  talk  of  heaven.  I  never  knew 
what  happiness  was  until  I  found  Christ.  "  What  did 
dying  Hannah  More  say?  ''To  goto  heaven— think 
what  that  is!  To  go  to  Christ,  who  died  that  I  might 
live!  Oh,  glorious  grave!  Oh,  what  a  glorious  thing 
it  is  to  die !  Oh,  the  love  of  Christ,  the  loA^e  of  Christ!  " 
Wliatdid  Mr.  TopUuly,  the  grcot  bynuvi;nc\k^r5  «ay  m 


THE  GLORIOUS  CHRIST. 


217 


his  last  hour?  "Who  can  measure  the  depths  of  the 
third  heaven ?  Oh,  the  sunshine  that  fills  my  soul!  I 
shall  soon  be  goae,  for  surely  no  one  can  live  in  this 
world  after  such  glories  as  God  has  manifested  to  my 
soul.'^  What  did  the  dying  Janev^/ay  say?  "I  can  as 
easily  die  as  close  my  eyes  or  turn  my  head  in  sleep. 
Before  a  few  hours  have  passed  I  shall  stand  on  Mount 
Zion  with  the  one  hundred  and  forty  and  four  thousand 
and  with  the  just  men  made  perfect,  and  we  shall  ascribe 
riches,  and  honor,  and  glory,  and  majesty,  and  domin- 
ion unto  God  and  the  lamb.  Dr.  Taylor,  condemned 
to  burn  at  the  stake,  on  his  way  thither  broke  away 
from  the  guardsmen,  and  went  bouinding,  and  leaping, 
and  jumping,  toward  the  fire,  glad  to  go  to  Jestis  and 
to  die  for  him.  Sir  Charls  Hare,  in  his  last  moment 
had  such  a  rapturous  vision  that  he  cried:  '^Upward! 
upward  !  upward  !  And  so  great  was  the  peace  of  one 
of  Christ's  disciples  that  he  put  his  fingers  upon  the 
pulse  in  his  wrist  and  counted  it  and  observed  it;  and 
so  great  was  his  placidity  that  after  awhile  he  said: 
''Stopped!"  and  his  life  had  ended  here  to  begin  in 
heaven.  But  grander  than  that  was  the  testimony  of 
the  worn-out  first  missionary,  when,  in  the  Mamartine 
dungeon,  he  cried:  "I  am  now  ready  to  be  offered,  and 
the  time  of  my  departure  is  at  hand;  I  have  fought  a 
good  fight,  I  have  finished  my  course,  I  have  kept  the 
faith;  henceforth  there  is  laid  up  for  me  a  crown  of 
righteousness,  which  the  Lord,  the  righteous  judge,  will 
give  fne  in  that  day,  and  not  to  me  only,  but  to  all  them 
that  love  his  appearing!  "  Do  you  not  see  that  Christ 
is  above  all  in  dying  alleviations  ? 

Toward  the  last  hour  of  our  earthly  residence  we  are 
speeding.  When  I  see  the  sunset  I  say:  "One  day  less 
to  live.  "   When  I  see  the  spring  blossoms  scattered  I 


218 


'rALMAGKs's  SERMONS. 


sri\:  "Another  season  gone  forever."  When  I  close 
this  Bible,  Sabbath  night,  I  say:  ''Another  Sabbath 
departed. "  When  I  bury  a  friend,  I  say:  * 'Another 
earthly  attraction  gone  forever.''  What  nimble  feet  the 
years  have  !  The  roebucks  and  the  lightnings  run  not 
so  fast.  From  decade  to  decade,  from  sky  to  sky,  they 
go  at  a  bound.  There  is  a  place  for  us,  w^hetlier  mark- 
ed or  not,  where  you  and  Twill  sleep  the  last  sleep,  and 
the  men  are  now  living  who  will  with  solemn  tread, 
carry  us  to  our  resting-place.  Ay,  it  is  known  in  heaven 
whether  our  departure  will  be  a  coronation  or  a  banish- 
ment. 

Brighter  than  a  banqueting-hall,  through  which  the 
light  feet  of  the  dancers  go  up  and  down  to  the  sound 
of  trumpeters,  will  be  the  sepulcher,  through  whose 
rifts  the  holy  light  of  heaven  streameth.  God  will  watch 
you.  He  will  send  his  angels  to  guard  your  slumber- 
ing-ground  until,  at  Christ's  behest,  they  shall  roll  away 
the  stone. 

So,  also,  Christ  is  above  all  in  heaven.  The  bible 
distinctly  says  that  Christ  is  the  chief  theme  of  the 
celestial  ascription,  all  the  thrones  facing  his  throne, 
all  the  palms  waved  before  his  face,  all  the  crowns  down 
at  his  feet.  Cherubim  to  cherubim,  seraphim  to  sera- 
phim, redeemed  spirit  to  redeemed  spirit,  shall  recite  the 
savior's  earthly  sacrifice. 

Stand  on  som'e  high  hill  of  heaven  and  in  all  the  radi- 
ant sweep,  the  most  glorious  object  will  be  Jesus. 
Myriads  gazing  9n  the  scars  of  his  suffering,  in  silence. 
First,  breaking  forth  into  acclamation,  the  martyrs  all 
the  purer  for  the  flames  through  which  they  passed,  will 
say:  "This  is  Jesus  for  whom  we  died.  "  The  apostles, 
all  the  happier  for  the  shipwrecks  and  the  scourging 
through  which  *they  went,  will   say:    "This  is  Jesus 


THE  GLORIOUS  CHRIST. 


219 


whom  we  preached  at  Corinth,  and  at  Cappadocia, 
and  at  Antioch,  and  at  Jerusalem.''  Little  children 
clad  in  white  will  say:  ^'This  is  the  Jesus  that  took  us 
in  his  arms  and  blessed  us,  and  when  the  storms  of  the 
world  were  too  cold  and  loud,  brought  us  into  this 
beautiful  place.  "    The  multitudes  of  the  bereft  will  say: 

This  is  the  Jesus  who  comforted  us  when  our  hearts 
broke.  "  Many  who  wandered  clear  off  from  God  and 
plunged  into  vagabondism,  but  were  saved  by  grace, 
will  say:  ^'This  is  the  Jesus  who  pardoned  us;  we  were 
lost  on  the  mountains,  and  he  brought  us  home.  We 
were  guilty,  and  he  has  made  us  white  as  snow."  Mercy 
boundless,  grace  unparalleled.  And  then,  after  each 
one  has  recited  his  peculiar  deliverances  and  peculiar 
mercies,  recited  them  as  by  solo,  all  the  vocies  will 
come  together  into  a  great  chorus  which  will  make  the 
arches  echo  and  re-echo  with  the  eternal  reverberation 
of  gladness,  and  peace,  and  triumph. 

Edward  I.  was  so  anxious  to  go  to  the  Holy  land  that 
when  he  was  about  to  expire  he  bequeathed  $160,000 
to  have  his  heart,  after  his  decease,  taken  to  the  Holy 
land  in  Asia  Minor,  and  his  request  was  complied  with. 
But  there  are  hundreds  today  whose  hearts  are  already 
in  the  holy  land  of  heaven.  Where  your  treasures  are, 
there  are  your  hearts  also.  Quaint  John  Bunyan,  of 
whom  I  spoke  at  the  opening  of  the  discourse,  caught 
a  glimpse  of  that  place,  and  in  his  quaint  way  he  said: 
^^And  I  heard  in  my  dream,  and  lo!  the  bells  of  the  cit^^ 
rang  again  for  joy;  and  as  they  opened  the  gates  to  let 
in  the  men,  I  looked  in  after  them,  and  lo  !  the  city  shone 
like  the  sun,  and  there  were  streets  of  gold,  and  men 
walked  on  them,  harps  in  their  hands,  to  ring  praises 
withal;  and  after  that  they  shut  up  the  gates,  which 
when  I  had  seen,  I  wished  myself  among  them !" 


Henry  W.  Grady. 


HENRY  W.  GRADY-HIS  LIFE  AND  DEATH. 

[Delivered  in  Brooklyn,  N.  Y.,  Feb.  23,  1890.] 

*'Take  thee  a  great  roll,  and  write  in  it  with  a  man's  pen/' 

— Isaiah  viii,  1, 

THE  EDITOR. 

Isaiah,  with  royal  blood  in  his  veins  and  a 
habitant  of  palaces,  does  this  divine  order  come. 
V;     He  is  to  take  a  roll,  a  large  roll,  and  write  on  it 
with  a  pen,  not  an  angeVs  pen,  btit  a  man's  pen.  So 
God  honored  the  pen,  and  so  He  honored  mannscript. 


21) 


222 


talmage's  sermons. 


In  our  day  the  mightiest  roll  is  the  religious  and  secular 
newspaper,  and  the  mightiest  pen  is  the  editor^s  pen, 
whether  for  good  or  evil.  And  God  says  now  to  every 
literary  man  and  especially  to  every  journalist:  ^'Take 
thee  a  great  roll,  and  write  in  it  with  a  man's  pen. 

Within  a  few  weeks  one  of  the  strongest,  most  vivid 
and  most  brilliant  of  those  pens  was  laid  down  on  the 
editorial  desk  in  Atlanta,  never  again  to  be  resumed. 
I  was  far  away  at  the  time.  We  had  been  sailing  up 
from  the  Mediterranean  sea,  through  the  Dardanelles, 
which  region  is  unlike  anything  I  ever  saw  for  beauty. 
There  is  not  any  other  water  scenery  on  earth  where 
God  has  done  so  many  picturesque  things  with  islands. 
They  are  somewhat  like  the  Thousand  Islands  of  our 
American  St.  Lawrence,  but  more  like  Heaven.  Indeed, 
we  had  just  passed  Patmos,  from  which  John  had  his 
apocalyptic  vision.  Constantinople  had  seemed  to 
come  out  to  greet  us,  for  your  approach  to  that  city  is 
different  from  any  other  city.  Other  cities  as  you 
approach  them  seem  to  retire,  but  this  city,  with  its 
glittering  minarets  and  pinnacles,  seems  almost  to  step 
into  the  water  to  greet  you.  But  my  landing  there, 
that  would  have  been  to  me  an  exhilaration  was  sud- 
denly stunned  with  the  tidings  of  the  death  of  my  inti- 
mate friend,  Henry  W.  Grady.  I  could  hardly  believe 
the  tidings,  for  I  had  left  on  my  study  table  at  home 
letters  and  telegrams  from  him,  those  letters  and  tele- 
grams having  a  warmth  and  geniality  and  a  wit  such 
as  he  only  could  express.  The  departure  of  no  public 
man  for  many  years  has  so  affected  me.  For  days 
I  walked  about  as  in  a  dream,  and  resolved  that,  get- 
ting home,  I  would,  for  the  sake  of  his  bereaved  house- 
hold, and  for  the  sake  of  his  bereaved  profession,  and 
fgr  the  sake  of  what  he  had  been  to  me,  and  shall  con- 


HENRY  W.  GRADY. 


223 


tinue  to  be  as  long  as  memory  lasts,  I  would  speak  a 
word  in  appreciation  of  him,  the  most  promising  of 
Americans,  and  learn  some  of  the  salient  lessons  of  his 
departure. 

SPEAK  WELL  OF  THE  LIVING. 

I  have  no  doubt  that  he  had  enemies,  for  no  man  can 
live  such  an  active  life  as  he  lived  or  be  so  far  in  advance 
of  his  time  w^ithout  making  enemies — some  because  he 
defeated  their  projects,  and  some  because  he  outshone 
them.  Owls  and  bats  never  did  like  the  rising  sun. 
But  I  shall  tell  you  how  he  appeared  to  me,  and  I  am 
glad  that  I  told  him  while  he  was  in  full  health  what  I 
thought  of  him.  Memorial  orations  and  gravestone 
epitaphs  are  often  mean  enough,  for  they  say  of  a  man 
after  he  is  dead  that  which  ought  to  have  been  said  of 
him  w^hile  living.  One  garland  for  a  living  brow  is 
worth  more  than  a  mountain  of  japonicas  and  calla 
lilies  heaped  on  a  funeral  casket.  By  a  little  black 
volume  of  fifty  pages,  containing  the  eulogiums  and 
poems  uttered  and  written  at  the  demise  of  Clay,  and 
Webster,  and  Calhoun,  and  Lincoln,  and  Sumner,  the 
world  tried  to  pay  for  the  forty  years  of  obloquy  it 
heaped  upon  those  living  giants.  If  I  say  nothing  in 
praise  of  a  man  while  he  lives,  I  will  keep  silent  when 
he  is  dead.  Myrtle  and  weeping  willow  can  never  do 
what  ought  to  have  been  done  by  amaranth  and  palm 
branch.  No  amount  of  **Dead  March  in  SauP^  rum- 
bling from  big  organs  at  the  obsequies  can  atone  for 
non-appreciation  of  the  man  before  he  fell  asleep.  The 
hearse  cannot  do  what  ought  to  have  been  done  b^^ 
chariot.  But  there  are  important  things  that  need  to 
be  said  about  our  friend,  who  was  a  prophet  in  Ameri- 
can journalism,  and  who  only  a  few  years  ago  heard 


224 


^talmage's  sermons. 


the  command  of  my  text:  *'Take  thee  a  great  roll,  and 
write  in  it  with  a  man's  pen.  " 

LIFE'S  FIRST  BATTLES. 

His  father  dead,  Henry  W.  Grady,  a  boy  fourteen 
years  of  age,  took  np  the  battle  of  life.  It  would  require 
a  long  chapter  to  record  the  names  of  orphans  who 
have  come  to  the  top.  When  God  takes  away  the  head 
of  the  household  he  very  often  gives  to  some  lad  in  that 
household  a  special  qualification.  Christ  remembers 
how  that  his  own  father  died  early,  leaving  him  to  sup- 
port himself  and  his  mother  and  his  brothers  in  the 
carpenter's  shop  at  Nazareth,  and  he  is  in  sj^mpathy 
with  all  boys  and  all  young  men  in  the  struggle.  You 
say:  *^0h,  if  my  father  had  only  lived  I  would  ha  ve 
had  a  better  education,  and  I  would  have  had  a  more 
promising  start,  and  there  are  some  wrinkles  on  my 
brow  that  would  not  have  been  there."  But  I  have 
noticed  that  God  makes  a  special  way  for  orphans. 
You  would  not  have  been  half  the  man  you  are  if  you 
had  not  been  obliged  from  your  early  days  to  fight 
your  own  battles.  What  other  boys  got  out  of  Yale  or 
Harvard,  you  got  in  the  University  of  Hard  Knocks. 
Go  among  successful  merchants,  lawyers,  physicians, 
and  men  of  all  occupations  and  professions,  and  there 
are  many  of  them  who  will  tell  you:  ''At  ten,  or  twelve, 
or  fifteen  years  of  age,  I  started  for  myself;  father  was 
sick,  or  father  was  dead.  "  But  somehow  they  got 
through  and  got  up.  I  account  for  it  by  the  fact  that 
there  is  a  special  dispensation  of  God  for  orphans.  All 
hail,  the  fatherless  and  the  motherless!  The  Lord  Al- 
mighty will  see  you  through.  Early  obstacles  for  Mr. 
Grady  were  only  the  means  for  development  of  his  in- 
tellect and  heart.   And  lo!  when  at~thirty-nine  years  of 


HENRY  W,  GRADY. 


225 


age  he  put  down  his  pen  and  clOvSed  his  lips  for  the  per- 
petual silence,  he  had  done  a  work  which  many  a  man 
who  lives  on  to  sixty  and  seventy  and  eighty  years 
never  accomplishes. 

There  is  a  great  deal  of  senseless  praise  of  longevity, 
as  though  it  were  a  wonderful  achievement  to  live  a 
good  while.   Ah,  my  friends,  it  is  not  how  long  we  live, 
but  how  well  we  live,  and  how  useful  we  live.   A  man 
who  lives  to  eighty  years  and  accompKshes  nothing  for 
God  or  humanity  might  better  have  never  lived  at  all. 
Methusaleh  lived  nine  hundred  and  sixty-nine  years, 
and  what  did  it  amount  to  ?   In  all  those  more  than 
nine  centuries  he  did  not  accompHsh  anything  which 
seemed  worth  record.   Paul  lived  only  a  little  more 
than  sixty,  but  how  many  Methusalehs  would  it  take 
to  make  one  Paul  ?   who  would  not  rather  have  PauPs 
sixty  years  than  Methusaleh^s  nine  hundred  and  sixty- 
nine?   Robert  McCheyne  died  at  thirty  years  of  age, 
and  John  Summerfield  at  twenty-seven  years  of  age, 
but  neither  earth  nor  heaven  will  ever  hear  the  end  of 
their  usefulness.   Longevity!   Why,  an  elephant  can 
beat  you  at  that,  for  it  lives  a  hundred  and  fifty,  and 
tw-o  hundred  years.   Gray  hair  are  the  blossoms  of  the 
tree  of  life  if  found  in  the  way  of  righteousness,  but  the 
frosts  of  the  second  death  if  found  in  the  way  of  sin. 

GRADY^S  FAITH  IN  THE  GOSPEL. 
One  of  our  able  New  York  journals  last  spring  printed 
a  question  and  sent  it  to  many  people,  and  among 
others  to  myself:  ^*Can  the  editor  of  a  secular  journal 
be  a  Christian?''  Some  of  the  newspapers  answered.  No. 
I  answered,  Yes;  and  lest  you  may  not  understand  me 
I  say.  Yes,  again.  Summer  before  last,  riding  with 
Mr.  Grady  from  a  religious  meeting  in  Georgia  on  Sun- 


226 


talmage's  sermons. 


day  night,  he  said  to  me  some  things  which  I  now  re- 
veal  for  the  first  time  because  it  [is  appropriate  now 
that  I  reveal  them.  He  expressed  his  complete  faith  in 
the  Gospel  and  expressed  his  astonishment  and  his  grief 
that  in  our  day  so  many  young  men  were  rejecting 
Christianity.  From  the  earnestness  and  the  tenderness 
and  the  confidence  with  which  he  spoke  on  these  things 
I  concluded  that  when  Henry  W.  Grady  made  public 
profession  of  his  faith  in  Christ,  and  took  his  place  at 
the  holy  communion  in  the  Methodist  church,  he  was 
honest  and  truly  Christian.  That  conversation  that 
Sunday  night,  first  in  the  carriage  and  then  resumed  in 
the  hotel,  impressed  me  in  such  a  way  that  when  I 
simply  heard  of  his  departure,  without  any  of  the  parti- 
culars, I  concluded  that  he  was  ready  to  go.  I  warrant 
there  was  no  fright  in  the  last  exigency,  but  that  he 
found  what  is  commonly  called  ''the  last  enemy a  good 
friend,  and  from  his  home  on  earth  he  went  to  a  home 
in  heaven.  Yes,  Mr.  Grady  not  only  demonstrated 
that  an  editor  may  be  a  Christian,  but  that  a  very 
great  intellect  may  be  gospelized.  His  mental  capacity 
was  so  wonderful  it  was  almost  startling.  I  have  been 
with  him  in  active  conversation,  while  at  the  same  time 
he  was  dictating  to  a  stenographer  editorials  for  The 
Atlanta  Constitution.  But  that  intellect  was  not 
ashamed  to  bow  to  Christ.  Among  his  last  dyingutter- 
ances  was  a  request  for  the  prayers  of  the  churches  in 
his  behalf. 

There  was  that  particular  quality  in  him  that  you  do 
not  find  in  more  than  one  person  out  of  hundreds  of  thou- 
sands, namely  personal  magnetism.  People  have  tried 
to  define  that  quality  and  always  failed,  yet  we  have 
all  felt  its  power.  There  are  some  persons  who  have 
only  to  enter  a  room  or  step  upon  a  platform  or  into  a 


HENRY  W.  GRADY. 


227 


pulpit,  and  you  are  thrilled  by  their  presence,  and  when 
they  speak  your  nature  responds  and  you  cannot  help 
it.  What  is  the  peculiar  influence  with  which  such  a 
magnetic  person  takes  hold  of  social  groups  and  audi- 
ences? Without  attempting  to  define  this  which  is 
indefinable  I  will  say  it  seems  to  correspond  to  the 
waves  of  air  set  in  motion  by  the  voice  or  the  move- 
ments of  the  body.  Just  like  that  atmospheric  vibra- 
tion is  the  moral  or  spiritual  vibration  which  rolls  out 
from  the  soul  of  what  we  call  a  magnetic  person.  As 
there  may  be  a  cord  binding  bodies  together  so  there 
may  be  an  invisible  cord  binding  souls.  A  magnetic 
man  throws  it  over  others  as  a  hunter  throws  a  lasso. 
Mr.  Grady  was  surcharged  with  this  influence,  and  it 
was  employed  for  patriotism  and  Christianity  and 
elevated  purposes. 

GLADSTONE'S  WONDERFUL  TESTIMONY. 

You  may  not  know  why,  in  the  conversation  which 
I  had  with  Mr.  Gladstone  a  few  weeks  ago,  he  uttered 
these  memorable  words  about  Christianity,  some  of 
v%^hich  were  cabled  to  America.  He  was  speaking  in 
reply  to  this  remark:  I  said,  ^^Mr.  Gladstone,  we  are 
told  in  America  by  some  people,  that  Christianity  does 
very  well  for  weak  minded  men  and  children  in  the  in- 
fant class,  but  is  not  fit  for  stronger  minded  men;  but 
when  we  mention  you,  of  such  large  intellectuality,  as 
being  a  pronounced  friend  of  religion,  we  silence  their 
batteries."  Then  Mr.  Gladstone  stopped  on  the  hill- 
side, where  we  were  exercising,  and  said:  ^'The  older 
I  grow  the  more  confirmed  I  am  in  m3^  faith  in  religion." 
*'Sir,  "said  he,  with  flashing  eye  and  uplifted  hand, 
*'talk  about  the  questions  of  the  day,  there  is  but  one 
question,  and  that  is  the  Gospel.    That  can  and  will 


228 


talmage's  sermons. 


correct  everything.  Do  you  have  any  of  that  dreadful 
agnosticism  in  America? Having  told  him  we  had, 
he  v^ent  on  to  say:  am  profoundly  thankful  that 
none  of  my  children  or  kindred  have  been  blasted  by 
it.  I  am  glad  to  say  that  about  all  the  men  at  the  top 
in  Great  Britain  are  Christians.  Why,  sir, he  said: 
''I  have  been  in  public  position  fifty-eight  years,  and 
forty-seven  years  in  the  Cabinet  of  the  British  govern- 
ment, and  during  those  forty  seven  years  I  have  been 
associated  with  sixty  of  the  master  minds  of  the  cent- 
ury, and  all  but  five  of  the  sixty  were  Christians.  He 
then  named  the  four  leading  physicians  and  surgeons  of 
his  country,  calling  them  by  their  name  and  remarking 
upon  the  high  qualities  of  each  of  them,  and  added: 
*'They  are  all  thoroughly  Christian.''  My  friends,  I 
think  it  will  be  quite  respectable  for  a  little  longer,  to 
be  the  friends  of  religion.  William  E.  Gladstone,  a 
Christian;  Henry  W.  Grady  a  Christian.  What  the 
greatest  of  Englishmen  said  of  England  is  true  of  Amer- 
ica and  of  all  Christendom.  The  men  at  the  top  are  the 
friends  of  God  and  believers  in  the  sanctities  of  religion  ; 
the  most  eminent  of  the  lawyers,  the  most  eminent  of  the 
doctors,  the  most  eminent  of  the  merchants;  and  there 
are  no  better  men  in  all  our  land  than  some  of  those 
who  sit  in  editorial  chairs.  And  if  that  does  not  corre- 
spond with  your  acquaintanceship,  I  am  sorry  that  you 
have  fallen  into  bad  company.  In  answer  to  the  ques- 
tion put  last  spring:  ^'Can  a  secular  journalist  be  a 
Christian?"  I  not  only  answer  in  the  afiirmative,  but 
I  assert  that  so  great  are  the  responsibilities  of  that 
profession,  so  infinite  and  eternal  the  consequences  of 
their  obedience  or  disobedience  of  the  words  of  my  text: 
^'Taketheea  great  roll,  and  write  in  it  with  a  man's 
pen,"  and  so  many  are  the  surrounding  temptations. 


f 

HENRY  W.  GRADY.  229 

that  the  men  of  no  other  profession  more  deeply  need 
the  defenses  and  the  re-enforcements  of  the  grace  of 
God. 

OPPORTUNITIES  OF  JOURNALISM. 

And  then  look  at  the  opportunities  of  journalism.  I 
praise  the  pulpit  and  magnify  my  office,  but  I  state  a 
fact  which  you  all  know,  when  I  say  that  where  the 
pulpit  touches  one  person,  the  press  touches  five  hun- 
dred. The  vast  majority  of  people  do  not  go  to  church, 
but  all  intelligent  people  read  the  newspapers.  While, 
therefore,  the  responsibility  of  the  ministers  is  great, 
the  responsibility  of  editors  and  reporters  is  greater. 
Come  brother  journalists,  and  get  your  ordination, 
not  by  the  laying  on  of  human  hands,  but  by  the 
laying  on  of  the  hands  of  the  Almighty.  To  you 
is  committed  the  precious  reputation  of  men  and  the 
more  precious  reputation  of  women.  Spread  before 
your  children  an  elevated  literature.  Make  sin  appear 
disgusting  and  virture  admirable.  Believe  good  rather 
than  evil.  While  you  show  up  the  h^^pocrisies  of  the 
church,  show  up  the  stupendous  hypocrisies  outside  of 
the  church.  Be  not,  as  some  of  you  are,  the  mere  echoes 
of  public  opinion;  make  public  opinion.  Let  the  great 
roll  on  which  you  write  with  a  man's  pen  be  a  message 
of  light  and  liberty  and  kindness  and  an  awakening  of 
moral  power.  But  who  is  sufficient  for  these  things  ? 
Not  one  of  you  without  divine  help.  But  get  that 
influence  and  the  editors  and  reporters  can  go  up  and 
take  this  world  for  God  and  the  truth.  The  mightiest 
opportunity  in  all  the  world  for  usefulness  today  is 
open  before  editors  and  reporters  and  publishers,  wheth- 
er of  knowledge  on  foot  as  in  the  book,  or  knowledge 
on  the  wing  as  in  the  newspaper.    I  pray  God,  men  of 


230 


talmage's  sermons. 


the  newspaper  press,  whether  you  hear  or  read  this 
Germon,  that  you  may  rise  up  to  your  full  opportunity, 
and  that  you  may  be  divinely  helped  and  rescued  and 
blessed.  Some  one  might  say  to  me:  ''How  can  you 
talk  thus  of  the  newspaper  press,  when  you  yourself 
have  sometimes  been  unfairly  treated  and  misrepresent- 
ed.I  answer  that  in  the  opportunity  the  newspaper 
press  of  this  country  and  other  countries  have  given 
me  week  by  week  to  preach  the  Gospel  to  the  nations, 
I  am  put  under  so  much  obligation  that  I  defy  all  edi- 
tors and  reporters,  the  world  over,  to  write  anything 
that  shall  call  forth  from  me  one  word  of  bitter  retort 
from  now  till  the  day  of  my  death.  My  opinion  is,  that 
all  reformers  and  religious  teachers  instead  of  spending 
so  much  time  and  energy  in  denouncing  the  press,  had 
better  spend  more  time  in  thanking  them  for  what  they 
have  done  for  the  world's  intelligence,  and  declaring 
their  magnificent  opportunity,  and  urging  their  employ- 
ment of  it  all  for  beneficent  and  righteous  purposes. 

GRADY,  THE  CHRISTIAN  PATRIOT. 

Again,  I  remark  that  Henry  W.  Grady  stood  for 
Christian  patriotism  irrespective  of  political  spoils.  He 
declined  all  ofiScial  reward.  He  could  have  been  Gove- 
nor  of  Georgia,  but  refused  it.  He  could  have  been 
Senator  of  the  United  States,  but  declined  it.  He  re- 
mained plain  Mr.  Grady.  Nearly  all  the  other  orators 
of  the  political  arena,  as  soon  as  the  elections  are  over, 
go  to  Washington,  or  Albany,  or  Harrisburg,  or  At- 
lanta, to  get  in  city  or  state  or  national  office,  reward 
for  their  services,  and,  not  getting  what  thej^  want, 
spend  the  rest  of  the  time  of  that  administration  in 
pouting  about  the  management  of  public  affairs  or 
cursing  Harrison  or  Cleveland,   When  the  great  politi- 


HENRY  W.  GRADY. 


231 


cal  campaigns  were  over,  Mr.  GracU^  went  home  to  his 
newspaper.  He  demonstrated  that  it  is  possible  to 
toil  for  principles  which  he  thought  to  be  right,  simply 
because  they  w^ere  right.  Christian  patriotism  is  too 
rare  a  commodity  in  this  country.  Surely  thejo3^of 
living  under  such  free  institutions  as  those  established 
here  ought  to  be  enough  reward  for  political  fidelity. 
Among  all  the  great  writers  that  stood  at  the  last  presi- 
dential election  on  Democratic  and  Republican  plat- 
forms, you  cannot  recall  in  your  mind  ten,  who  were 
not  themselves  looking  for  remunerative  appointments. 
Aye,  you  can  count  them  all  on  the  fingers  of  one  hand. 
The  most  illustrious  specimen  of  that  style  of  man  for 
the  last  ten  years  was  Henry  W.  Grady. 

GRADY  FOR  THE  NEW  SOUTH. 

Again,  Mr.  Grady  stood  for  the  New  South,  and  was 
just  what  w^e  want  to  meet,  with  three  other  men,  one 
to  speak  for  the  New  North,  another  for  the  New  East 
and  another  for  the  New  West.  The  bravest  speech 
made  for  the  last  quarter  of  a  century  was  that  made 
by  Mr.  Grady  at  the  New  England  dinner  in  New  York 
about  two  or  three  years  ago.  I  sat  wath  him  that 
evening  and  know  something  of  his  anxieties,  for  he 
was  to  tread  on  dangerous  grounds,  and  might  by  one 
misspoken  word  have  antagonized  forever  both  sections. 
His  speech  was  a  victory  that  thrilled  all  of  us  who 
heard  him  and  all  who  read  him.  That  speech,  great 
for  wisdom,  great  for  kindness,  great  for  pacification, 
great  for  bravery,  will  go  down  to  the  generations 
with  Webster's  speech  at  Bunker  hill,  William  Wirt^s 
speech  at  the  arraignment  of  Aaron  Burr,  Edmund 
Burke's  speech  on  Warren  Hastings,  Robert  Emmet's 
speech  for  his  own  vindication.    Who  will  in  conspicu- 


232 


TALMAGE^S  SERMONS. 


Oils  action  represent  the  New  North  as  he  did  the  New 
South?  Who  shall  come  forth  for  the  New  East  and 
who  for  the  New  West?  Let  old  political  issues  be 
buried,  let  old  grudges  die.  Let  new  theories  be  launched. 

With  the  coming  in  of  a  new  nation  at  the  gates  at 
Castle  Garden  every  year,  and  the  wheat  bin  and  corn 
crib  of  our  land  enlarged  with  every  harvest,  and  a 
vast  multitude  of  our  population  still  plunged  in  illit- 
eracy to  be  educated,  and  moral  questions  abroad  in- 
volving the  very  existence  of  our  republic,  let  the  old 
political  platforms  that  are  worm  eaten  be  dropped, 
and  platforms  that  shall  be  made  of  two  planks — the 
-  one  the  Ten  Commandments  and  the  other  the  Sermon 
on  the  Mount — lifted  for  all  of  us  to  stand  on.  But 
there  is  a  lot  of  old  politicians  grumbling  all  around 
the  sky  who  don't  want  a  New  South,  a  New  North, 
a  New  East  or  a  New  West.  They  have  some  old  war 
speeches  that  they  prepared  in  1861,  that  in  all  our 
autumnal  elections  they  feel  called  upon  to  inflict  upon 
the  country.  They  growl  louder  and  louder  in  propor- 
tion as  they  are  pushed  back  further  and  further  and 
the  Henry  W.  Gradys  come  to  the  front.  But  the  man- 
date, I  think,  has  gone  forth  from  the  throne  of  God 
that  a  new  American  nation  shall  take  the  place  of  the 
old,  and  the  new  has  been  baptized  for  God,  and  liberty, 
and  justice,  and  peace,  and  morality,  and  religion. 

And  now  our  much  lamented  friend  has  gone  to  give 
account.  Suddenly  the  facile  and  potent  pen  is  laid 
down  and  the  eloquent  tongue  is  silent.  What!  Is 
there  no  safe-guard  against  fatal  disease?  The  imper- 
sonation of  stout  health  was  Mr.  Grady.  What  com- 
pactness of  muscle !  What  ruddy  complexion!  What 
flashing  eye !  Standing  with  him  in  a  group  of  twenty 
or  thirty  persons  at  Piedmont,  he  looked  the  healthiest 


HENRY  W.  GRADY. 


233 


as  his  spirits  were  the  bhthe^t.  Shall  we  never  feel 
again  the  hearty  grasp  of  his  hand  or  be  magnetized 
with  his  eloquence?  Men  of  the  great  roll,  men  of  the 
pen,  men  of  wit,  men  of  power,  if  our  friend  had  to  go 
when  the  call  came,  so  must  you  when  your  call  comes. 
When  God  asks  you  what  you  have  done  with  your 
pen  or  your  eloquence  or  your  wealth  or  your  social 
position,  will  you  be  able  to  give  satisfactory  answer? 
What  have  we  been  w^riting  all  these  years?  If  mirth, 
has  it  been  innocent  mirth  or  that  which  tears  and 
stings  and  lacerates  ?  From  our  pen  have  there  come 
forth  productions  healthy  or  poisonous  ?  In  the  last 
great  day  when  the  warrior  must  give  account  of  wha  t 
he  has  done  with  his  sword,  and  the  merchant  what 
he  has  done  with  his  yard  stick,  and  the  mason  what 
he  has  done  with  his  trowel,  and  the  artist  what  he  has 
done  with  his  pencil,  we  shall  have  to  give  account  of 
what  we  have  done  with  our  pen.  There  are  gold  pens 
and  diamond  pens  and  pens  of  exquisite  manufacture, 
and  every  few  weeks  I  see  some  new  kind  of  pen,  each  said 
to  be  better  than  the  other,  but  in  the  great  day  of  our 
arraignment  before  the  Judge  of  quick  and  dead,  that 
will  be  the  most  beautiful  pen,  whether  gold  or  steel  or 
quill,  which  never  wrote  a  profane  or  unclean  or  cruel 
word,  or  which,  from  the  day  it  was  carved  or  split  at 
the  nib,  dropped  from  its  point  kindness  and  encourage- 
ment and  help  and  gratitude  to  God  and  benediction 
for  man. 

SYMPATHY  WITH  GRADY'S  FRIENDS. 

May  God  comfort  that  torn  up  southern  home  and 
all  the  homes  of  this  coimtry  and  of  all  the  w^orld 
which  have  been  sw^ept  by  this  plague  of  influenza, 
which  has  deepened  'sometimes  into  pneumonia,  and 


234 


talmage's  sermons. 


sometimes  into  typhus,  and  the  victims  of  which  are 
counted  by  the  ten  thousand!  Satan,  who  is  the 
Prince  of  the  Power  of  the  Air,*'  has  been  poisoning 
the  atmosphere  in  all  nations.  Though  it  is  the  first 
time  in  our  rememberance,  he  has  done  the  same  thing 
before.  In  1696  the  unwholesome  air  of  Cairo,  Egypt, 
destroyed  the  life  of  ten  thousand  in  one  day,  and  in 
Constantinople  in  1714  three  hundred  thousand  people 
died  of  it .  I  am  glad  that  by  the  better  sanita  tion  of  our 
cities,  and  wider  understanding  of  hygienic  laws,  and 
the  greater  skill  of  physicians,  these  Apollyonic  assaults 
upon  the  human  race  are  being  resisted,  but  pestilential 
atmosphere  is  still  abroad.  Hardly  a  family  here  but 
has  felt  its  lighter  or  heavier  touch.  Some  of  the  best 
ef  my  flock  fell  under  its  power  and  many  homes  here 
represented  have  been  crushed.  The  fact  is,  the  biggest 
failure  in  the  universe,  is  this  world,  if  there  be  no 
heaven  beyond.  But  there  is,  and  the  friends  who 
have  gone  there  are  many  and  very  dear.  O  tearful 
eyes,  look  up  to  the  hills  crimsoning  with  eternal  morn ! 
That  reunion  kiss  will  more  than  make  up  for  the 
parting  kiss,  and  the  welcome  will  obliterate  the  good- 
by.  *^The  Lamb  which  is  in  the  midst  of  the  throne 
shall  lead  them  to  living  fountains  of  water  and  God 
shall  wipe  away  all  tears  from  their  eyes.''  Till  then, 
O  departed  loved  ones,  promise  us  that  you  will  re- 
member us,  as  we  promise  to  remember  you.  And 
some  of  you  gone  up  from  this  city  by  the  sea,  and 
others  from  under  southern  skies,  and  others  from  the 
homes  of  the  more  rigorous  north,  and  some  from  the 
cabins  on  great  western  farms,  we  shall  meet  again 
when  our  pen  has  written  its  last  word,  and  our  lips 
have  spoken  the  last  adieu. 
And  tiow,  thou  gre^t  and  magni  n-  cnt  ^oul  of  editor 


HENRY  W.  CRADY. 


235 


and  orator!  ui  der  brighter  skies  we  shall  meet  again. 
From  God  thou  camest,  and  to  God  thoii  hast  return- 
ed. Not  broken  down,  but  ascended.  Not  collapsed, 
but  irradiated.  Enthroned  one!  Coroneted  one! 
Sceptered  one !   Emparadised  one!   Hail  and  farewell. 


REVISION  OF  CREEDS. 


1 


[Delivered  in  Brooklyn,  N.  Y. ,  March  2^  1890.] 

*Xoose  him,  and  let  him  go."  John  xi,  44. 

AT  BETHANY. 

/^^&?^Y  Bible  is,  at  the  place  of  this  text,  written  all 
p  over  with  lead  pencil  marks  made  last  Decem- 
ber at  Bethany  on  the  ruins  of  the  house  of 
Mary  and  Martha  and  Lazarus.  We  dismounted  from 
our  horses  on  the  way  up  from  Jordan  to  the  Dead  sea. 
Bethany  was  the  summer  evening  retreat  of  Jesus. 
After  spending  the  day  in  the  hot  city  of  JerusaJem  he 
would  come  out  there  almost  every  evening  to  the 
house  of  his  three  friends.  I  think  the  occupants  of 
that  house  were  orphans,  for  the  father  and  mother 
are  not  mentioned.  But  the  son  and  two  daughters 
must  have,  inherited  porperty,  for  it  must  have  been, 
judging  from  what  I  saw  of  the  foundations  and  the 

237 


238 


talmage's  sermons. 


size  of  the  rooms,  an  opulent  home.  Lazarus,  the 
brother,  was  now  the  head  of  the  household,  and  his 
sisters  depended  on  him,  and  were  proud  of  him,  for 
he  was  very  popular,  and  everybody  liked  him,  and 
these  girls  were  splendid  girls.  Martha,  a  first  rate 
housekeeper,  and  Mary  a  spirituelle,  somewhat  dreamy, 
but  affectionate,  and  as  good  a  girl  as  could  be  found 
in  all  Palestine.  But  one  day  Lazarus  got  sick.  The 
sisters  were  in  consternation.  Father  gone,  and  mother 
gone,  they  feel  very  nervous  lest  they  lose  their  brother 
also.  Disease  did  its  quick  work.  How  the  girls  hung 
over  his  pillow !  Not  much  sleep  about  that  house,  no 
sleep  at  all.  From  the  characteristics  otherwhere 
developed,  I  judge  that  Martha  prepared  the  medicines 
and  made  tempting  dishes  of  food  for  the  poor  appetite 
of  the  sufferer,  but  Mary  prayed  and  sobbed.  Worse 
and  worse  gets  Lazarus,  until  the  doctor  announces 
that  he  can  do  no  more.  The  shriek  that  went  up  from 
that  household  when  the  last  breath  had  been  drawn 
and  the  two  sisters  were  being  led  by  sympathizers  into 
the  adjoining  room,  all  those  of  us  can  imagine  who 
have  had  our  own  hearts  broken.  But  why  was  not 
Jesus  there  as  he  so  often  had  been  ?  Far  away  in  the 
country  districts  preaching,  healing  other  sick,  how 
unfortunate  that  this  omnipotent  Doctor  had  not  been 
at  that  domestic  crisis  in  Bethany.  When  at  last 
Jesus  arrived  in  Bethany,  Lazarus  had  been  buried 
four  days  and  dissolution  had  taken  place.  In  that 
climate  the  breathless  body  disintegrates  more  rapidly 
than  in  ours.  If  immediately  after  decease,  that  body 
had  been  awakened  into  life,  unbelievers  might  have 
said  he  was  only  in  a  cpmatose  state,  or  in  a  sort  of 
trance,  and  by  some  vigorous  manipulation  or  power- 
ful stimulant,  vitality  had  been  renewed.   No  I  Four 


l^EVISION  OF  CREEDS. 


239 


days  dead.  At  the  door  of  tiic  sepulclicr  is  a  crowd 
of  people,  but  the  three  most  memorable  are  Jesus,  who 
was  the  family  friend,  and  the  two  bereft  sisters. 

IN  THE  TOMB  OF  LAZARUS. 

We  went  into  the  traditional  tomb  in  December, 
and  it  is  deep  down  and  dark,  and  with  torches  w^e 
explored  it.  We  found  it  all  quiet  that  afternoon  of 
our  visit,  but  the  day  spoken  of  in  the  Bible  there  w^as 
present  an  excited  multitude.  I  wonder  what  Jesus 
will  do?  He  orders  the  door  of  the  grave  removed, 
and  then  he  begins  to  descend  the  steps,  Mary  and 
Martha  close  after  him  and  the  crowed  after  them. 
Deeper  down  into  the  shadows  and  deeper !  The  hot 
tears  of  Jesus  roll  over  his  cheeks  and  splash  upon  the 
back  of  his  hands.  Were  ever  so  many  sorrow^s  com- 
pressed into  so  small  a  space  as  in  that  group  pressing 
on  down  after  Christ,  all  the  time  bemoaning  that  he 
had  not  come  before?  Now  all  the  w^hispering,  and 
and  all  the  crying,  and  all  the  sounds  of  shuffling  feet 
are  stopped.  It  is  the  silence  of  expectancy.  Death 
had  conquered,  but  now  the  vanquisher  of  death  con- 
fronted the  scene.  Amid  the  awful  hush  of  the  tomb, 
the  familiar  name  w^iich  Christ  had  often  had  upon 
his  lips  in  the  hospitalities  of  the  village  home,  came 
back  to  his  tongue,  and  wath  a  pathos  and  an  almight- 
iness  of  which  the  resurrection  of  the  last  day  shall  be 
only  an  echo,  he  cries:  ^'Lazarus,  come  forth!"  The 
eyes  of  the  slumberer  open,  and  he  rises  and  comes  to 
the  foot  of  the  steps,  and  with  great  difficulty  begins 
to  ascend,  for  the  cerements  of  the  tomb  are  yet  on 
him  and  his  feet  are  fast  and  his  hands  are  fast,  and 
the  impediments  to  all  his  niovemcrits  arc  so  great  that 
Je^us  comrnands;   ^-Take  off  these  cerements;  remoYe 


240 


talmage's  sermons. 


these  hindrances;  unfasten  these  grave  clothes;  loose 
him,  and  let  him  go  Oh,  I  am  so  glad  that  after  the 
Lord  raised  Lazarus,  he  went  on  and  commanded  the 
loosening  of  the  cords  that  bound  his  feet  so  that  he 
could  walk,  and  the  breaking  off  of  the  cerement 
that  bound  his  hands  so  that  he  could  stretch  out 
his  arms  in  salutation,  and  the  tearing  off  of  the  band- 
age from  around  his  jaws  so  that  he  could  speak. 
What  would  resurrected  life  have  been  to  Lazarus  if  he 
had  not  been  freed  from  all  those  cripplements  of  his 
body  ?  I  am  glad  that  Christ  commanded  his  complete 
emancipation,  saying:    ^^Loose  him,  and  let  him  go.'^ 

The  unfortunate  thing  now  is  that  so  many  Christ- 
ians are  only  half  liberated.  They  have  been  raised 
/  from  the  death  and  burial  of  sin  into  spiritual  life,  but 
they  yet  have  the  grave  clothes  on  them.  They  are 
like  Lazarus,  hobbling  up  the  stairs  of  the  tomb,  bound 
hand  and  foot,  and  the  object  of  this  sermon  is  to  help 
free  their  body  and  free  their  soul,  and  I  shall  try  to 
obey  the  Master's  command  that  comes  to  me,  and 
comes  to  every  minister  of  religion:  ''Loose  him,  and 
let  him  go.'' 

CREEDS  AND  REVISION. 

First,  many  are  bound  hand  and  foot  by  religious 
creeds.  Let  no  man  misinterpret  me  as  antagonizing 
creeds.  I  have  eight  or  ten  of  them;  a  creed  about 
religion,  a  creed  about  art,  a  creed  about  social  life,  a 
creed  about  government  and  so  on.  A  creed  is  some- 
thing that  a  man  believes,  whether  it  be  written  or  un- 
written. The  Presbyterian  church  is  now  agitated 
about  its  creed.  Some  good  men  in  it  are  for  keeping 
it  because  it  was  framed  from  the  belief  of  John  Calvin. 
Other  good  men  in  it  want  revision,   I  am  with  neither 


REVISION  OF  CREEDS. 


241 


party.  Instead  of  revision  I  want  substitution.  I 
was  sorry,  to  have  the  question  disturbed  at  all.  The 
creed  did  not  hinder  us  from  offering  the  pardon  and 
the  comfort  of  the  Gospel  to  all  men,  and  the  Westmin- 
ster Confession  has  not  interfered  with  me  one  minute. 
But  now  that  the  electric  lights  have  been  turned  on 
the  imperfection  of  that  creed— and  everything  that  man 
fashions  is  imperfect — let  us  put  the  old  creed  respect- 
fully aside,  and  get  a  brand  new  one. 

It  is  impossible  that  people  who  lived  hundreds  of 
years  ago  should  fashion  an  appropriate  creed  for  our 
times.  John  Calvin  was  a  great  and  good  man,  but 
he  died  three  hundred  and  twenty-six  years  ago.  The 
best  centuries  of  Bible  study  have  come  since  then,  and 
explorers  have  done  their  work,  and  you  might  as  well 
have  the  world  go  back  and  stick  to  what  Robert  Ful- 
ton knew  about  steamboats,  and  reject  the  subsequent 
improvements  in  navigation;  and  go  back  to  John  Gut- 
tenburg,  the  inventor  of  the  art  of  printing,  and  reject 
all  modem  newspaper  presses;  and  go  back  to  the  time 
when  telegraphy  was  the  elevating  of  signals  or  the 
burning  of  bonfires  on  the  hill  tops,  and  reject  the  mag- 
netic wire  which  is  the  tongue  of  nations,  as  to  ignore 
all  the  exegetes  and  the  philologists  and  the  theologians 
of  the  kst  three  hundred  and  twenty-six  years,  and 
put  your  head  under  the  sleere  of  the  gown  of  a  Six- 
teenth century  doctor*  I  could  call  the  names  of  twenty 
living  Presbyterian  ministers  of  religion,  who  could 
make  a  better  creed  than  John  Calvin.  The  Nineteenth 
century  ought  not  to  be  called  to  sit  at  the  feet  of  the 
Sixteenth. 

**But,'' you  sa3%  *4tis  the  same  old  Bible,  and  John 
Calvin  had  that  as  well  as  the  j^resent  student  of  the 
Scriptures."    Yes;  so  it  is  the  same  old  sun  in  the  hea- 


242 


talmagje's  sermons. 


vens,  but  in  our  time  it  has  gone  to  making  daguerreo- 
types and  photograpiis.  It  is  the  same  old  water,  but 
in  our  century  it  has  gone  to  running  steam  engines. 
It  is  the  same  old  electricity,  but  in  our  time  it  has  be- 
come a  lightning  footed  errand  boy.  So  it  is  the  old 
Bible,  but  new  applications,  new  uses,  new  interpreta- 
tions. You  must  remember  that  during  the  last  three 
hundred  years  words  have  changed  their  meaning,  and 
some  of  them  now  mean  more  and  some  less. 

ALL  INFANTS  ARE  SAVED. 

I  do  not  think  that  John  Calvin  believed,  as  some 
say  he  did,  in  the  damnation  of  infants,  although  some 
of  the  recent  hot  disputes  would  seem  to  imply  that 
there  is  such  a  thing  as  the  damnation  of  infants !  A 
man  who  believes  in  the  damnation  of  infants  himself 
deserves  to  lose  heaven.  I  do  not  think  any  good  man 
could  admit  such  a  possibility.  What  Christ  will  do 
with  all  the  babies  in  the  next  world,  I  conclude  from 
what  he  did  with  the  babies  in  Palestine,  when  he  hug- 
ged them  and  kissed  them.  When  some  of  you  grown 
poeple  go  out  of  this  world,  your  doubtful  destiny  will 
be  an  embarrassment  to  ministers  officiating  at  your 
obsequies,  who  will  have  to  be  cautious  so  as  not  to 
hurt  surviving  friends.  But  when  the  darling  children 
go,  there  are  no  ^4fs'\  or  ^'buts,"  or  guesses.  We  must 
remember  that  good  John  Calvin  was  a  logician  and 
a  metaphysician,  and  by  the  proclivities  of  his  nature, 
put  some  things  in  an  unfortunate  way.  Logic  has  its 
use,  and  metaphysics  has  its  use,  but  they  are  not 
good  at  making  creeds,  A  gardner  hands  you  a  bloom- 
ing rose,  dewy  fresh,  but  a  sever  botanist  comes  to  you 
with  a  rose  nnd  says:    '  i  vx  ^i^show  you  the  structure 

this  rose,"  fUid  li(M)t-(>cer(!s  (<•  {')Uv  ii  r!j)(rrt»  ^nd  puU^ 


244 


i^aLmage^s  sermons. 


off  the  leaves  and  he  says:  There  are  the  petals,"  and 
he  takes  out  the  anthers  and  he  says:  ''Jnst  look  at 
the  wonderful  structure  of  these  floral  pillars/'  and 
then  he  cuts  the  stem  to  show  you  the  juices  of  the 
plant.  So  logic,  or  metaphysics,  takes  the  aromatic 
rose  of  the  Christian  religion  and  sa3^:  ^'I  will  just 
show  you  how  this  rose  of  religion  was  fashioned;" 
and  it  pulls  off*  of  it  a  piece  and  says:  ^'Thatisthe 
human  will,"  and  another  piece  and  says:  ^^Tliis  is 
God's  will,"  and  another  piece  and  says:  **This  is 
sovereignty,"  and  another  piece  and  says:  ^^Thisis  free 
agency,"  this  is  this,  and  that  is  that.  And  while  I 
stand  looking  at  the  fragments  of  the  rose  pulled  apart, 
one  whom  the  Marys  took  for  a  gardner,  comes  in 
and  presents  me  with  a  crimson  rose,  red  as  blood, 
and  says:  ^'Inhale  the  sweetness  of  this,  wear  it  on 
your  heart,  and  wear  it  forever."  I  must  confess  that 
I  prefer  the  rose  in  full  bloom  to  the  rose  pulled  apart. 

What  a  time  we  have  had  with  the  dogmatics,  the 
apologetics  and  the  hermeneutics.  The  defect  in  some 
of  the  creeds  is  that  they  try  to  tell  us  all  about  the 
decrees  of  God.  Now  the  only  human  being  that  v/as 
ever  competent  to  handle  that  subject  was  Paul,  and 
he  would  not  have  been  competent,  had  he  not  been  in- 
spired. I  believe  in  the  sovereignty  of  God,  and  I  be- 
lieve in  man's  free  agency,  but  no  one  can  harmonize 
the  two.  It  is  not  necessary  that  we  harmonize  them. 
Every  Sermon  that  I  have  ever  heard  that  attempted 
such  harmonization  was  to  me  as  clear  as  a  London 
fog,  as  clear  as  mud.  My  brother  of  the  Nineteenth 
century,  my  brother  of  the  Sixteenth  century,  give  us 
Paul's  statement  and  leave  out  your  own.  Better  one 
chapter  of  Paul  on  that  subject,  than  all  of  Calvin's 
institutes,  able,  and  honest,  and  mighty,  as  they  are. 


REVISION  OF  CREEDS. 


245 


Do  not  try  to  measure  either  the  throne  of  God,  or  the 
thunderbolts  of  God,  with  your  little  steel  pen.  What 
do  you  know  about  the  decrees  ?  You  cannot  pry 
open  the  door  of  God^s  eternal^ counsels.  You  cannot 
explain  the  mysteries  of  God^s  government  now,  much 
less  the  mysteries  of  his  government  five  hundred  quin- 
tillion  of  years  ago.  I  move  for  a  creed  for  all  our 
denominations  made  out  of  Scripture  quotations  pure 
and  simple.  That  would  take  the  earth  for  God.  That 
would  be  impregnable  against  infidelity  and  Apollyonic 
assaults.  That  would  be  beyond  human  criticism.  The 
denomination,  whatever  its  name  be,  that  can  rise  up 
to  that  will  be  the  church  of  the  millennium,  will  swal- 
low up  all  other  denominations,  and  be  the  one  that  will 
be  the  Bride,  when  the  Bridegroom  cometh. 

Let  us  make  it  simpler  and  plainer  for  people  to  get  in- 
to the  kingdom  of  God.  Do  not  hinder  people  by  the 
idea  that  they  may  not  have  been  elected.  Do  not  tag 
on  to  the  one  essential  of  faith  in  Christ  any  of  the  in- 
number able  nonessentials.  A  man  who  heartily  accepts 
Christ  is  a  Christian,  and  the  man  who  does  not  accept 
him,  is  not  a  Christian,  and  that  is  all  there  is  of  it. 
He  need  not  believe  in  election  or  reprobation.  He 
need  not  believe  in  the  eternal  generation  of  the  Son. 
He  need  not  believe  in  everlasting  punishment.  He 
need  not  believe  in  infant  baptism.  He  need  not  believe 
in  plenary  inspiration.  Faith  in  Christ  is  the  criterion, 
is  the  test,  is  the  pivot,  is  the  indispensable.  But  there 
are  those  who  would  add  unto  the  tests  rather  than 
subtract  from  them.  There  are  thousands  who  would 
not  accept  persons  into  church  membership  if  they 
drink  wine,  or  if  they  smoke  cigars,  or  if  they  attend 
the  theatre,  or  if  they  play  cards,  or  if  they  drive  a 
fast  horse.   Now  I  do  not  drink  wine,  or  smoke,  ©r 


246 


talmage'vS  sermons. 


attend  the  theatre,  never  played  a  game  of  cards,  and 
do  not  drive  a  fast  horse,  although  I  would,  if  I  owned 
one.  But  do  not  substitute  tests  wdiich  the  Bible  does 
not  establish.  There  is  one  passage  of  Scripture  wide 
enough  to  let  all  in  who  ought  to  enter,  and  to  keep 
out  all  who  ought  to  be  kept  out:  Believe  in  the  Lord 
Jesus  Christ  and  thou  shalt  be  saved/'  Get  a  man's 
heart  right,  and  his  life  will  be  right.  But  now  that 
the  old  creeds  have  been  put  under  public  scrutiny, 
something  radical  must  be  done.  Some  would  split 
them,  some  would  carve  them,  some  would  elongate 
them,  some  would  abbreviate  them.  At  the  present 
moment,  and  in  the  present  shape,  they  are  a  hindrance. 
Lazarus  is  alive,  but  hampered  with  the  old  grave 
clothes.  If  you  want  one  glorious  church,  free  and 
unencumbered,  take  off  the  cerements  of  old  ecclesiasti- 
cal vocabulary.    Loose  her,  and  let  her  go! 

DOUBTS  AND  FEARS. 

Again,  there  are  Christians  who  are  under  sepulchral 
shadows,  and  hindered  and  hoppled  by  doubts  and 
fears  and  sins,  long  ago  repented  of.  What  they  need 
is  to  understand  the  liberty  of  the  sons  of  God.  They 
spend  more  time  under  the  shadow  of  Sinai,  than  at 
the  base  of  Calvary.  They  have  been  singing  the  only 
poor  hymn  that  Newton  ever  wrote: 
Tis  a  point  I  long  to  know, 

Oft  it  causes  anxious  thought — 
Do  I  love  the  Lord  or  no, 
Am  I  his,  or  am  I  not  ? 

Long  to  know,  do  you  ?  Why  do  you  not  find  out  ? 
Go  to  work  for  God,  and  you  will  very  soon  find  out. 
The  man  who  is  all  the  time  feeling  of  his  pulse,  and 
looking  at  his  tongue  to  see  whether  it  is  coated,  is 
morbid,  and  cannot  be  physically  well.   The  doctor 


REVISION  OF  CREEDS. 


247 


will  say:  ''Go  out  into  the  fvcsh  air  and  into  active 
life,  and  stop  thinking  of  yourself,  and  you  will  get  w^ell 
and  strong.'^  So  there  are  people  who  are  watch- 
ing their  spiritual  symptoms,  and  they  call  it  self  exam- 
ination, and  they  get  weaker  and  sicklier  in  their  faith 
all  the  time.  Go  out  and  do  something  nobly  Christian. 
Take  holy  exercise,  and  then  examine  yourself,  and  in- 
stead of  Newton^s  saturnine  and  bilious  hymn  that  I 
first  quoted,  you  will  sing  Newton's  other  hymn: 
Amazing  grace,  how  sweet  the  sound 

That  saved  a  wretch  like  me ! 
I  once  was  lost,  but  now  am  found. 
Was  blind,  but  now  I  see. 

DOFF  THE  GRAVE  CLOTHES. 

What  many  of  you  Christians  most  need  is  to  get 
your  grave  clothes  off.  I  rejoice  that  yon  have  been 
brought  from  the  death  of  sin  to  the  life  of  the  Gospel; 
but  you  need  to  get  your  hand  loose,  and  your  feet 
loose,  and  your  tongue  loose,  and  your  soul  loose. 
There  is  no  sin  that  the  Bible  so  arraigns  and  punctures 
and  flagellates,  as  the  sin  of  unbelief,  and  thatis  what  is 
the  matter  with  you.  ^^Oh,'^  you  sa^^,  '^Ifyou  knew 
what  I  once  was  and  how  many  times  I  have  grievous- 
ly strayed,  you  would  understand  why  I  do  not  come 
out  brighter.'^  Then  I  think  you  would  call  yourself 
the  chief  of  sinners.  I  am  glad  you  hit  upon  that  term, 
for  I  have  a  promise  that  fits  into  your  case  as  the  cogs 
of  one  wheel  between  the  cogs  of  another  wheel,  or  as 
the  key  fits  into  the  labyrinths  of  a  lock.  A  man  who 
was  once  called  Saul  but  afterwards  Paul  declared: 
'^This  is  a  faithful  saying  and  worthy  of  all  accepta- 
tion, that  Jesus  Christ  came  into  the  world  to  save  sin- 
ners, of  whom  I  am  chief  Mark  that — ^*of  whom  lam 
chief,'*   'Tut  down  your  overcoats  ati4  hats  and  I  wiU 


248 


talmage's  sermons. 


take  care  of  them  while  you  kill  Stephen"— so  Saul 
said  to  the  stoners  of  the  first  martyr — ''I  do  not  care 
to  exert  myself  much,  but  I  will  gaurd  your  surplus 
apparel  while  you  do  the  murder."  The  New  Testa- 
ment account  says:  ^^The  VNritnesses  laid  down  their 
clothes  at  a  young  man's  feet  whose  name  was  Saul." 
No  wonder  he  said:  ^'Sinners,  of  whom  I  am  the  chief." 
Christ  is  used  to  climbing.  He  climbed  to  the  top  of 
the  temple.  He  climbed  to  the  top  of  Mount  Olivet. 
He  climbed  to  the  top  of  the  cliffs  about  Nazareth. 
He  climbed  to  the  top  of  Golgotha.  And  to  the  top 
of  the  hills  and  the  mountains  of  your  transgression 
he  is  ready  to  climb  with  pardon  for  every  one  of  you. 
The  groan  of  Calvary  is  mightier  than  the  thunder  of 
Sinai.  Full  receipt  is  oSered  for  all  your  indebtedness. 
If  one  throw  a  stone  at  midnight  into  a  bush  where 
the  hedge  bird  roosts,  it  immediately  begins  to  sing; 
and  into  the  midnight  hedges  of  your  despondency 
these  words  I  hurl,  hoping  to  awaken  you  to  anthem. 
Drop  the  tunes  in  the  minor  key  and  take  the  major. 
Do  you  think  it  pleases  the  Lord  for  you  to  be  carrying 
around  with  you  the  debris  and  carcasses  of  old  trans- 
gressions ?  You  make  me  think  of  some  old  ship  that 
has  had  a  tempestuous  time  at  sea,  and  now  that  it 
proposes  another  voyage  keeps  on  its  davits  the  dam- 
aged lifeboats  and  the  splinters  of  a  shivered  mast  and 
the  broken  glass  of  a  smashed  skylight.  My  advice  is: 
Clear  the  decks,  overboard  with  all  the  damaged  rig- 
ging, brighten  up  the  salted  smoke  stacks,  open  a  new 
log  book,  haul  in  the  planks,  lay  out  a  new  course  and 
set  sail  for  heaven.  You  have  had  the  spiritual  dumps 
long  enough.  You  wdll  please  the  Lord  more  by  being 
happy  than  by  being  miserable.  Have  3^ou  not  some- 
times started  out  in  the  rain  with  your  umbrella  and 


REVISION  OF  CREEDvS. 


249 


you  were  busy  thinking,  and  you  did  not  notice  that 
the  rain  had  stopped,  and  though  it  had  cleared  ofi 
you  still  had  your  umbrella  up ,  and  when  you  discovered 
what  you  were  doing  you  felt  silly  enough  ?  That  is 
what  some  of  you  are  doing  in  religious  things.  You 
have  got  so  used  to  sadness  that  though  the  rain  has 
stopped  you  still  have  your  umbrella  up.  Come  out  of 
the  shadow.  Ascend  the  stairs  of  your  sepulcher.  Step 
out  into  the  broad  light  of  noonday.  We  come  around 
you  to  help  remove  your  grave  clothes  and  a  voice  from 
the  heavens,  tremulous  but  omnipotent,  commands: 
* 'Loose  him,  and  let  him  go.'' 

MORE  GOOD  ADVICE. 

Again  my  text  book  has  good  avice  concerning  any 
Christian  hampered,  and  bothered,  and  bound  by  fear  of 
his  own  dissolution.  To  such  the  Book  refers  when  it 
speaks  of  those  who,  through  fear  of  death,  were  all 
their  lifetime  subject  to  bondage.  The  most  of  us,  even 
if  we  have  the  Christian  hope,  are  cowards  about  death. 
If  a  plank  fall  from  a  scaffolding  and  just  grazes  our  hat, 
how  pale  we  look.  If  the  Atlantic  ocean  plays  with  the 
steamship,  pitching  it  toward  the  heavens  and  letting 
it  suddenly  drop,  how  even  the  Christian  passengers 
pester  the  steward  or  stewardess  as  to  whether  there  is 
any  danger,  and  the  captain,  who  has  been  all  night  on 
the  bridge  and  chilled  through,  coming  in  for  a  cup  of 
coffee,  is  assailed  with  a  whole  battery  of  questions  as 
to  what  he  thinks  of  the  weather.  And  many  of  the 
best  people  are,  as  Paul  says,  throughout  their  lifetime 
in  bondage  by  fear  of  death.  My  brothers  and  sisters, 
ifwe  made  full  use  of  our  religion  we  would  soon  get 
over  this.  Backed  up  by  the  teachings  of  your  Bible, 
just  look  through  the  telescope  some  bright  night  and 


250 


l^ALMAGE^S  SERMONS. 


see  how  many  worlds  there  are  and  reflect  that  all  you 
have  seen,  compared  with  the  number  of  world  in  exist- 
ence, are  less  than  the  fingers  of  your  righthand  as  com- 
pared with  all  the  fingers  of  the  human  race.  How^ 
foolish,  then,  for  us  to  think  that  ours  is  the  only  world 
fit  for  us  to  stay  in.  I  think  that  all  the  stars  are  in- 
habited, and  by  beings  like  the  human  race  in  feelings 
and  sentiments,  and  the  difference  is  in  lung  respiration, 
and  heart  beat,  and  physical  conformation,  their  phys- 
ical conformation  fit  for  the  climate  of  their  world,  and 
our  physical  conformation  fit  for  the  climate  of  our 
world.  So  we  shall  feel  at  home  in  any  of  the  stellar 
neighborhoods,  our  physical  limitations  having  ceased. 
One  of  our  first  realizations  in  getting  out  of  this  world, 
I  think,  will  be,  that  in  this  world  we  were  very  much 
pent  up,  and  had  cramped  apartments,  and  were  kept 
on  the  limits.  The  most,  even  of  our  small  world  is 
water,  and  the  water  says  to  the  human  race :  Don't 
come  here  or  you  will  drown."  A  few  thousand  feet  up 
the  atmosphere  is  uninhabitable,  and  the  atmosphere 
s'ays  to  the  human  race:  Don't  come  up  here  or  you 
cannot  breathe.''  A  few  miles  down  the  earth  is  a  fur- 
nace of  fire,  and  the  fire  says :  Don't  come  here  or  you 
will  burn."  The  caverns  of  the  mountains  are  full  of 
poisonous  gasses,  and  the  gasses  say:  Don't  come 
here  or  you  will  be  asphyxiated."  And,  crossing  a  rail 
track,  you  must  look  out  or  you  will  be  crushed.  And, 
standing  by  a  steam  boiler,  you  must  look  out  or  you 
will  be  blown  up.  And  pneumonias  and  pleurisies  and 
consumptions  and  apoplexies  go  across  the  earth  in 
flocks,  in  droves,  in  herds,  and  it  is  a  world  of  equinoxes 
and  cyclones  and  graves.  Yet  we  are  under  the  delusion 
that  it  is  the  only  place  fit  to  stay  in.  We  want  to  stick 
to  the  wet  plank  mid-ocean  while  the  great  ship  City 


REVISION  OF  CREEDS. 


251 


of  God,"  of  the  Celestial  line,  goes  sailing  past  and 
would  gladly  take  us  up  in  a  lifeboat.  My  Christian 
friends,  let  me  tear  off  your  despondencies  and  frights 
about  dissolution.  My  Lord  commands  me  regarding 
YOU,  saying:      Loose  him,  and  let  him  go." 

Heaven  is  ninety-five  per  cent,  better  than  this  world, 
a  thousand  per  cent,  better,  a  million  per  cent,  better. 
Take  the  gladdest,  brightest,  most  jubilant  days  you 
ever  had  on  earth  and  compress  them  all  into  one  hour, 
and  that  hour  would  be  a  requiem,  a  fast  day,  a  gloom, 
a  horror,  as  compared  with  the  poorest  hour  they  have 
had  in  heaven  since  its  first  tower  was  built,  or  its  first 
gates  swung,  or  its  first  song  carolled.  *'0h,"  you  say, 
*'that  may  be  true,  but  I  am  so  afraid  of  crossing  over 
from  this  world  to  the  next,  and  I  fear  the  snapping  of 
the  cord  between  soul  and  body."  Well,  all  the  sur- 
geons, and  ph^'^sicians,  and  scientists,  declare  that  there 
is  no  pang  at  the  parting  of  the  body  and  soul,  and 
all  the  seeming  restlessness  at  the  closing  hour  of  life 
is  involuntary,  and  no  distress  at  all.  And  I  agree 
with  the  doctors,  for  what  they  say  is  confirmed  b^^ 
the  fact  that  persons  who  were  drowned  or  were  sub- 
merged until  all  consciousness  departed,  and  were  after- 
wards resuscitated,  declared  that  the  sensation  of  pass- 
ing into  unconsciousness  was  pleasurable  rather  than 
distressful. 

FEAR  NOTHING. 

The  cage  of  the  body  has  a  door  on  easy  hinges,  and 
when  that  door  of  the  physical  cage  opens,  the  soul 
simply  puts  out  its  wings  and  soars.  ''But,"  you  say, 
''I  fear  to  go  because  the  future  is  so  full  of  mystery." 
Well,  I  will  tell  you  how^  to  treat  the  mysteries.  The 
mysteries  have  ceased  bothering  me,  for  I  do  as  the 


252 


talmage's  sermons. 


judges  of  your  courts  often  do.  They  hear  all  the  argu- 
ments in  the  case  and  then  say:  ''I  will  take  these 
papers  and  give  you  my  decision  next  week."  So  I 
have  heard  all  the  arguments  in  regard  to  the  next 
world,  and  some  things  are  uncertain  and  full  of  mys- 
tery, and  so  1  fold  up  the  papers  and  reserve  until  the 
next  world  my  decision  about  them.  I  can  there  study 
all  the  mysteries  to  better  advantage,  for  the  light  will 
be  better  and  my  faculties  stronger,  and  I  will  ask  the 
Christian  philosophers,  who  have  had  all  the  advar- 
ta.ges  of  heaven  for  centuries,  to  help  me,  and  I  may^  be 
permitted  myself  humbly  to  ask  the  Lord,  and  I  think 
there  will  be  only  one  mystery  left,  that  will  be  how 
one  so  unworthy  as  myself  got  into  such  an  enraptur- 
ed place.  Come  up  out  of  the  sepulchral  shadows.  If  you 
are  not  a  Christian  by  faith  in  Christ,  come  up  into  the 
light;  and  if  you  are  already  like  Lazarus,  reanimated, 
but  still  have  your  grave  clothes  on,  get  rid  of  them. 
The  command  is:  ''Loose  him,  and  let  him  go."  The 
only  part  of  my  recent  journey  that  I  really  dreaded, 
although  I  did  not  say  much  about  it  before  hand,  was 
the  landing  at  Joppa.  That  is  the  port  of  entrance 
for  the  Holy  Land,  and  there  are  many  rocks,  and  in 
rough  weather  people  cannot  land  at  all.  The  boats 
taking  the  people  from  the  steamer  to  the  docks  must 
run  between  reefs  that  looked  to  me  to  be  about  fifty 
feet  apart,  and  one  misstroke  of  an  oarsman,  or  an 
unexpected  wave,  has  sometimes  been  fatal,  and  hun- 
dreds have  perished  along  those  reefs.  Besides  that,  as 
we  left  Port  Said  the  evening  before,  an  old  traveler 
said:  "The  wind  is  just  right  to  give  you  a  rough 
landing  at  Joppa;  indeed,  I  think  you  will  not  be  ableto 
latid  at  all."  The  fact  was,  that  when  our  Mediter- 
ranean steamer  dropped  anchor  near  Joppa,  and  we 


REVISION  OF  CREEDS. 


253 


put  out  for  shore  in  the  small  boat,  the  water  was  as" 
still  as  though  it  had  been  sound  asleep  a  hundred 
years,  and  we  landed  as  easily  as  I  came  on  this  plat- 
form. Well,  your  fears  have  pictured  for  you  an  ap- 
palling arrival  at  the  end  of  your  voyage  of  life,  and 
they  say  that  the  seas  will  run  high,  and  that  the  break- 
ers will  swallow  you  up,  or  that  if  you  reach  Canaan 
at  all,  it  will  be  a  very  rough  landing.  The  very  oppo- 
site will  be  true  if  you  have  the  eternal  God  for  your 
portion.  Your  disembarkation  for  the  promised  land 
will  be  as  smooth  as  was  ours  at  Palestine  last  Decem- 
ber. Christ  will  meet  you  far  out  at  sea,  and  pilot 
you  into  complete  safety,  and  you  will  land  with  a 
hosanna  on  one  side  of  you,  and  a  hallelujah  on  the 
other. 

"Land  ahead !"  its  fruits  are  waving 

O'er  the  hills  of  fadeless  green, 
And  the  living  waters  laving 
Shores  where  heavenly  forms  are  seen. 

Rocks  and  storms  I'll  fear  no  more, 
When  on  that  eternal  shore; 
Drop  the  anchor !  furl  the  sail ! 
I  am  safe  within  the  veil! 


WOULD  YOO  LIKE  TO 

LIVE  VOURLIFE  OVER  MIN? 

[Delivered  in  Brooklyn,  N.  Y. ,  March  9,  1890.] 
"All  that  a  man  hath  will  he  give  for  his  life."  Job  ii,  4. 

NOT  TRUE. 

(^ST^H  AT  is  tintrtie.  The  Lord  did  not  say  it,  but  Satan 
^  Yf^  said  it  to  the  Lord,  when  the  evil  one  wanted  Jol) 
tj  still  more  afflicted.  The  record  is:  ''So  w^ent 
Satan  forth  from  the  presence  of  the  Lord  and  smote 
Job  with  sore  boils.''  And  Satan  has  been  the  author 
of  all  eruptive  diseases  since  then,  and  he  hopes  by  poi- 
soning the  blood  he  may  poison  the  soul.  But  the  result 
of  the  diabolic  experiment,  which  left  Job  victor,  proved 
the  falsity  of  the  Satanic  remark:    *'A11  that  a  man 

(255) 


256 


talmage's  sermons. 


hath  will  he  give  for  his  life.''  Many  a  captain  who 
has  stood  on  the  bridge  of  the  steamer  till  his  passengers 
got  off  and  he  drowned;  many  an  engineer  has  kept  his 
hand  on  the  throttle  valve  or  his  foot  on  the  brake  until 
the  most  of  the  train  was  saved,  while  he  went  down  to 
death  through  the  open  drawbridge ;  many  a  fireman 
who  plunged  into  a  blazing  house  to  get  a  sleeping  child 
out,  sacrificing  his  life  in  the  attempt,  and  thousands  of 
martyrs  who  submitted  to  fiery  stakes,  and  knife  of 
massacre,  and  headman's  ax,  and  guillotine,  rather  than 
surrender  principle,  have  proved  that  in  many  a  case 
my  text  was  not  true,  when  it  says  :  All  that  a  man 
hath  will  he  give  for  his  life." 

But  Satan's  falsehood  was  built  on  a  truth.  Life  is 
very  precious,  and,  if  we  would  not  give  up  all,  there 
are  many  things  we  would  surrender  rather  than  sur- 
render it.  We  see  how  precious  life  is  from  the  fact  that 
we  do  everything  to  prolong  it.  Hence  all  sanitary 
regulations,  all  study  of  hygiene,  all  fear  of  draughts, 
all  waterproofs,  all  doctors,  all  medicines,  all  struggles 
in  crisis  of  accident.  An  admiral  of  the  British  navy  was 
court-martialed  for  turning  his  ship  around  in  time  of 
danger  and  so  damaging  the  ship.  It  was  proved 
against  him.  But  when  his  time  came  to  be  heard, 
he  said:  Gentlemen,  I  did  turn  the  ship  around, 
and  admit  it  was  damaged;  but  do  you  want  to 
know  why  I  turned  it?  There  was  a  man  over-  ^ 
board  and  I  wanted  to  save  him,  and  I  did  save 
him,  and  I  consider  the  life  of  one  sailor  worth  all  the 
vessels  of  the  British  navy."  No  wonder  he  was  vindi- 
cated. Life  is  indeed  very  precious.  Yes,  there  are  those 
who  deem  life  so  precious  they  would  like  to  repeat  it, 
they  would  like  to  try  it  again.  They  would  like  to  go 
back  from    seventy   to   sixty,  from  sixty   to  fifty, 


257 


from  fifty  to  forty,  from  forty  to  thirty,  from  thirty  to 
twenty.  I  propose,  for  very  practical  and  useful  pur- 
poses, as  will  appear  before  I  get  through,  to  discuss 
the  question  we  have  all  asked  of  others,  and  others  have 
again  and  again  asked  of  us.  Would  you  like  to  live 
your  life  over  again  ? 

The  fact  is  that  no  intelligent  and  right-fearing  man  is 
satisfied  with  his  past  life.  We  have  all  made  so  many 
mistakes,  stumbled  into  so  many  blunders,  said  so  many 
things  that  ought  not  to  have  been  said,  and  done  so 
many  things  that  ought  not  to  have  been  done,  that  we 
can  suggest  at  least  ninety -five  per  cent,  of  improve- 
ment! Now  would  it  not  be  grand  if  the  good  Lord 
would  say  to  you :  You  can  go  back  and  try  it  over 
again.  I  will  by  a  word  turn  your  hair  to  brown  or 
black  or  golden,  and  smooth  all  the  wrinkles  out  of 
your  temple  and  cheek,  and  take  the  bend  out  of  your 
shoulders,  and  extirpate  the  stiffness  from  your  joint, 
and  the  rheumatic  twinge  from  your  foot,  and  you  shall 
be  twenty-one  years  of  age,  and  just  what  you  were 
when  you  reached  that  point  before.''  If  the  proposition 
were  made  I  think  many  thousands  would  accept  it. 

THE  FOUNTAIN  OF  YOUTH. 

That  feeling  caused  the  ancient  search  for  what  was 
called  the  Fountain  of  Youth,  the  waters  of  which  taken 
would  turn  the  hair  of  the  octogenarian  into  the  curly 
locks  of  a  boy,  and  however  old  a  person  who  drank  at 
that  fountain,  he  would  be  young  again.  The  island 
was  said  to  belong  to  the  group  of  the  Bahamas,  but 
lay  far  out  in  the  ocean.  The  great  Spanish  explorer, 
Juan  Ponce  de  Leon,  fellow  voyager  with  Columbus,  I 
have  no  doubt  felt  that  if  he  could  discover  that  Foun- 
tain of  Youth,  he  would  do  as  much  as  his  friend  had 


258 


talmage's  sermons. 


done  in  discovering  America.  So  he  put  out  in  1512 
from  Porto  Rico,  and  cruised  about  among  the  Baha- 
mas in  search  of  that  fountain.  I  am  glad  he  did  not 
find  it.  There  is  no  such  fountain.  But  if  there  were, 
and  its  waters  were  bottled  up  and  sent  abroad  at  a 
thousand  dollars  a  bottle,  the  demand  would  be  greater 
than  the  supply,  and  many  a  man  who  has  come  through 
a  life  of  uselessness,  and  perhaps  sin,  to  old  age,  would 
be  shaking  up  the  potent  liquid,  and  if  he  were  directed 
to  take  only  a  teaspoonful  after  each  meal,  would  be  so 
anxious  to  make  sure  work  he  would  take  atablespoon- 
ful,  and  if  directed  to  take  a  tablespoonful  would  take  a 
glassful.  But  some  of  you  would  have  to  go  back  further 
than  to  twenty-one  years  of  age  to  make  a  fair  start, 
for  there  are  many  who  manage  to  get  all  wrong  before 
that  period.  Yea,  in  order  to  get  a  fair  start,  some 
would  have  to  go  back  to  the  father  and  mother  and 
have  them  corrected;  yea,  to  thegrandfather  and  grand- 
mother and  have  their  life  corrected,  for  some  of  you 
are  suffering  from  bad  hereditary  influences  which  start- 
ed a  hundred  years  ago.  Well,  if  your  grandfather  Hved 
his  life  over  again  and  your  father  lived  his  life  over 
again,  and  you  lived  your  life  over  again,  what  a  clut- 
tered up  place  this  world  would  be,  a  place  filled  with 
miserable  attempts  at  repairs.  I  begin  to  think  that  it 
is  better  for  each  generation  to  have  only  one  chance, 
and  then  for  them  to  pass  off  and  give  another  gener- 
ation a  chance. 

Beside  that ,  if  we  were  permitted  to  live  life  over  again, 
it  would  be  a  stale  and  stupid  experience.  The  zest  and 
spur  and  enthusiasm  of  life  come  from  the  fact  that  we 
have  never  been  along  this  road  before,  and  everything 
is  new,  and  we  are  alert  for  what  may  appear  at  the 
next  turn  of  the  road.   Suppose  you,  a  man  in  mid-life 


LIFE  OVER  AGAIN. 


259 


or  old  age,  were,  with  your  present  feelings  and  large 
attainments,  pnt  back  into  the  thirties  or  the  twenties 
or  into  the  teens,  what  a  nuisance  you  would  be  to 
others  and  what  an  unhappiness  to  yourself.  Your 
contemporaries  would  not  want  you,  and  you  would 
not  want  them.  Things  that  in  your  previous  journey 
of  life  stirred  your  healthful  ambition,  or  gave  you 
pleasurable  surprise,  or  led  you  into  happy  interroga- 
tion, would  only  call  forth  from  you  a  disgusted  *^0h, 
pshaw!''  You  would  be  blase  at  thirty  and  a  misan- 
thrope at  forty,  and  unendurable  at  fifty.  The  most  in- 
sane and  stupid  thing  imaginable  would  be  a  second 
journey  of  life.  It  is  amusing  to  hear  people  say: 
would  like  to  live  my  life  over  again  if  I  conld  take  my 
present  experience  and  knowledge  of  things  back  with 
me  and  begin  under  those  improved  auspices.''  Why, 
what  an  uninteresting  boy  you  would  be  with  your 
present  attainments  in  a  child's  mind.  No  one  would 
want  such  a  boy  around  the  house ;  a  philosopher  at 
twenty,  a  scientist  at  fifteen,  an  archeologist  at  ten, 
and  a  domestic  nuisance  all  the  time.  An  oak  crowded 
into  an  acorn.  A  Rocky  mountain  eagle  thrust  back 
into  the  eggshell  from  which  it  was  hatched. 

IN  POMPEII. 

Beside  that,  if  you  took  life  over  again,  you  would 
have  to  take  its  deep  sadness  over  again.  Would  you 
want  to  try  again  the  griefs,  and  the  heartbreaks,  and 
the  bereavements  through  which  you  have  gone?  What 
a  mercy  that  we  shall  never  be  called  to  suffer  them 
again!  We  may  have  others  bad  enough,  but  those 
old  ones  never  again.  Would  you  want  to  go  through 
the  process  of  losing  your  father  again,  or  your  mother 
again,  or  your  companion  in  life  again,  or  your  child 


260 


talmage's  sermons. 


again  ?  If  you  were  permitted  to  stop  at  the  sixtieth 
milestone,  or  the  fiftieth  milestone,  or  the  fortieth  mile- 
stone, and  retrace  your  steps  to  the  twentieth,  your 
experience  would  be  something  like  mine,  one  day  last 
November,  in  Italy.  I  walked  through  a  great  city 
with  a  friend  and  two  guides,  and  there  were  in  all  the 
city  only  four  persons,  and  they  were  those  of  our  own 
group.  We  went  up  and  down  the  streets,  we  entered 
the  houses,  the  museums,  the  temples,  the  theatres. 
We  examined  the  wonderful  pictures  on  the  walls,  and 
the  most  exquisite  mosaic  on  the  floor.  In  the  streets 
were  the  deep  worn  ruts  of  wagons,  but  not  a  wagon 
inihecity.  On  the  front  steps  of  mansions  the  word 
^ ^Welcome' ^  in  Latin,  but  no  human  being  to  greet  us. 
The  only  bodies  of  any  of  the  citizens  that  we  saw  were 
petrified,  and  in  the  museum  at  the  gates.  Of  the  thirty- 
five  thousand  people  who  once  lived  in  those  homes, 
and  worshiped  in  those  temples,  and  clapped  in  those 
theatres,  not  one  left!  For  eighteen  hundred  years 
that  city  of  Pompeii  had  been  buried  before  modern 
exploration  scooped  out  of  it  the  lava  of  Vesuvius. 
Well,  he  who  should  be  permitted  to  return  on  the  path- 
way of  his  earthly  life,  and  live  it  over  again,  would 
find  as  lonely  and  sad  a  pilgrimage.  It  would  be  an 
exploration  of  the  dead  past.  The  old  schoolhouse, 
the  old  church,  the  old  home,  the  old  play  ground  either 
gone  or  occupied  by  others,  and  for  you  more  depress- 
ing than  was  our -Pompeii  visit  in  November. 

TEMPTATIONS. 

Beside  that,  would  you  want  to  risk  the  tempta- 
tions of  life  over  again  ?  From  the  fact  that  you  are 
here  I  conclude,  that  though  in  many  respects  your  life 
may  have  been  unfortunate  and  unconsecrated,  you  have 


LIFE  OVER  AGAIN. 


got  on  so  far  tolerably  well,  if  nothing  more  than 
tolerable.   As  for  myself,  though  my  life  has  been  far 
from  being  as  consecrated  as  I  would  like  to  have  had 
it,  I  would  not  like  to  try  it  over  again,  lest  next  time  I 
would  do  worse.    Why,  just  look  at  the  temptations 
we  have  all  passed  through,  and  just  look  at  the  multi- 
tudes who  have  gone  completely  under.  Just  call  over  the 
roll  of  your  schoolmates,  and  college  mates,  the  clerks 
who  were  with  you  in  the  same  store  or  bank,  or  the 
operatives  in  the  same  factory,  with  just  as  good  a 
prospect  as  you,  who  have  come  to  complete  mishap. 
Some  young  man  that  told  you  that  he  was  going  to 
be  a  millonaire,  and  own  the  fastest  trotters  on  West- 
chester turnpike,  and  retire  by  the  time  he  was  thirty- 
five  years  of  age,  you  do  not  hear  from  for  many  years, 
and  know  nothing  about  him  until  some  day  he  comes 
into  your  store,  and  asks  for  five  cents  to  get  a  mug 
of  beer.    You,  the  good  mother  of  a  household,  and 
all  your   children  rising  up  to  call  you  blessed,  can 
remember  when  you  were  quite  jealous  of  the  belle  of 
the  village,  who  wasso  transcendently  fair  and  popular. 
But  while  you  have  those  two  honorable  and  queenly 
names  of  wife  and  mother,  she  became  a  poor  waif  of 
the  streets,  ar  d  went  into  the  b^lackness  of  darkness 
forever.    Live  life  over  again  ?    Wli;',  if  rnauA^  of  those 
who  are  now  respectable  vjcre  permitted  to  experi- 
ment, the  next  journey  would  be  demolition.    You  got 
through,  as  Job  sa^^s,  by  the  skin  of  the  teeth.  Next 
time  you  might  not  get  through  at  all.    Satan  would 
say:        know  him  now  better  than  I  did  before  and 
have  for  fifty  years  been  studying  his  weakness,  and  I 
will  weave  a  stronger  web  of  circumstances  to  catch 
him  ne.Yt  time."    And  Satan  would  concenter  his  forces 
I   Qxi  this  one  ma,n  and  the  last  state  of  that  man  would 

1 


262 


talmage's  sermons. 


be  worse  than  the  first.  My  friends,  our  faces  are  in 
the  right  direction.  Better  go  forward  than  back- 
ward, even  if  we  had  the  choice.  The  greatest  disaster 
I  can  think  of  would  be  for  you  to  return  to  boyhood 
in  1890.  Oh,  if  Hfe  were  a  smooth  Luzerne  or  Cayuga 
lake,  I  would  like  to  get  into  a  yacht  and  sail  over  it, 
not  once,  but  twice — yea,  a  thousand  times.  But  life 
is  an  uncertain  sea,  and  some  of  the  ships  crash  on  the 
icebergs  of  cold  indifference,  and  some  take  fire  of  evil 
passions,  and  some  lose  their  bearings  and  run  into  the 
skerries,  and  some  are  never  heard  of.  Surely  on  such 
a  treacherous  sea  as  that,  one  voyage  is  enough. 

Beside  all  this,  do  you  know  if  you  could  have* your 
wish  and  live  life  over  again  it  would  put  you  so  much 
further  from  reunion  with  your  friends  in  heaven?  If 
you  are  in  the  noon  of  life,  or  the  evening  of  life  you  are 
not  very  far  from  the  golden  gate,  at  which  you  are  to 
meet  your  transported  and  emparadised  loved  ones. 
You  are  now,  let  us  say,  twenty  years,  or  ten  years,  or 
one  year  off  from  celestial  conjunction.  Now,  suppose 
you  went  back  in  your  earthly  life  thirty  years,  or  forty 
years,  or  fifty  years,  what  an  awful  postponement  of 
the  time  of  reunion  !  It  would  be  as  though  you  were 
going  to  San  Francisco  to  a  great  banquet,  and  you 
got  to  Oakland,  four  or  five  miles  this  side  of  it,  and 
then  came  back  to  Hoboken  or  Harlem  to  get  a  better 
start;  as  though  you  were  going  to  England  to  be 
crowned,  and  having  come  in  sight  of  the  mountains  of 
Wales,  you  put  back  to  Sandy  Hook  to  make  a  better 
voyage.  The  further  on  you  get  in  life,  if  a  Christian, 
the  nearer  you  are  to  the  renewal  of  broken -up  compan- 
ionship. No;  the  wheel  of  time  turns  in  the  right  di- 
rection, and  it  is  well  it  turns  so  fast.  Three  hundred 
and  sixty-five  revolutions  in  ayearemd  forward,  rather 


LIFE  OVER  AGAIN. 


263 


than  365   revoltitions   in    a   year   and  backward. 
HEAR!  HEAR! 

But  hear  ye !  hear  ye !  while  I  tell  you  how  you  may 
practically  live  your  life  over  again  and  be  all  the  better 
for  it.  You  may  put  into  the  remaining  years  of  your 
life  all  you  have  learned  of  wisdom  in  your  past  life. 
You  may  make  the  coming  ten  years  of  your  life  worth 
the  preceding  forty  or  fifty  years.  When  a  man  says  he 
would  like  to  live  his  life  over  again  because  he  would 
do  so  much  better,  and  yet  goes  right  on  living  as  he 
has  always  lived,  do  you  not  see  he  stultifies  himself? 
He  proves  that  if  he  could  go  back  he  would  do  almost 
the  same  thing  as  he  has  done.  If  a  man  eat  green  ap- 
ples some  Wednesday  in  cholera  time,  and  is  thrown  in- 
to fearful  cramps,  and  says  on  Thursday  :  1  wish  I  had 
been  more  prudent  in  my  diet;  oh,  if  I  could  live 
Wednesday  over  again,"  and  then  on  Friday  eats  apples 
just  as  green,  he  proves  that  it  would  have  been  no  ad- 
vantage for  him  to  live  over  Wednesday  again.  And  if 
we,  deploring  our  past  life,  and  with  the  idea  of  im- 
provement, long  for  an  opportunity  to  try  it  over  again, 
yet  go  on  making  the  same  mistakes  and  committing 
the  same  sins,  we  only  demonstrate  that  the  repetition 
of  our  existence  would  afford  no  improvement.  It  was 
green  apples  before,  and  it  would  be  green  apples  over 
again.  As  soon  as  a  ship  captain  strikes  a  rock  in  the 
lake  or  sea  he  reports  it,  and  a  buoy  is  swung  over  that 
reef  and  marines  henceforth  stand  off  from  that  rock. 
And  all  our  mistakes  in  the  past  ought  to  be  buoys, 
;  warning  us  to  keep  in  the  right  channel.  There  is  no 
excuse  for  us  if  we  split  on  the  same  rock  where  w^e  split 
before.  Going  along  the  sidewalk  at  night  where  ex- 
cavations are  being  made  we  frequently  see  a  lantern 


i 


TALMAGE^S  SBRMONg. 


on  a  framework,  and  we  turn  aside,  for  that  lantern 
says,  keep  ont  of  this  hole.  And  all  along  the  pathway 
of  life  lanterns  are  set  as  warnings,  and  by  the  time  we 
come  to  mid-life,  we  ought  to  know  where  it  is  safe  to 
walk  and  where  it  is  unsafe. 

IMPROVE  THE  TIME  LEFT. 

Beside  that,  we  have  been  all  these  years  learning 
how  to  be  useful,  and  in  the  next  decade  we  ought  to 
accomplish  more  for  God  and  the  church  and  the  world 
than  in  any  previous  four  decades.  The  best  way  to 
atone  for  past  indolence,  or  past  transgressions,  is  by 
future  assiduity.  Yet  you  often  find  Christian  men  who 
were  not  converted  until  they  were  forty  or  fifty,  as  old 
age  comCvS  on,  saying  :  ''Well,  my  work  is  about  done, 
and  it  is  time  for  me  to  rest.^^  They  gave  forty  years 
of  their  life  to  Satan  and  the  world,  a  little  fragment  of 
their  life  to  God,  and  now  they  want  to  rest !  Whether 
that  belongs  to  comedy  or  tragedy  I  say  not.  The  man 
who  gave  one-half  of  his  existence  to  the  world,  and  of 
the  remaining  two  quarters,  one  to  Christian  work  and 
the  other  to  rest,  would  not,  I  suppose,  get 
a  very  br^'Uiant  reception  in  heaven.  If  there  are  any 
dried  leaves  in  heaven,  they  would  be  appropriate  for 
his  garland ;  or  if  there  is  any  throne  with  broken  steps 
it  would  be  appropriate  for  his  coronation  ;  or  any  harp 
with  relaxed  string  it  would  be  appropriate  for  his 
fingering.  My  brother  you  give  nine-tenths  of  your  life 
to  vsin  and  Satan,  and  then  get  converted,  and  then  rest 
awhile  in  sanctified  laziness,  and  then  go  up  to  get  your 
heavenly  reward ;  and  I  warrant  it  will  not  take  the 
cashier  of  the  royal  banking  house  a  great  while  to  count 
out  to  you  all  your  dues.  He  will  not  ask  you  whether 
you  will  have  it  in  bills  of  large  denomination  or  small. 


LIFE  OYER  AGAIN. 


265 


I  would  like  to  put  one  sentence  of  my  sermon 
in  italics,  and  have  it  underscored,  and  three  ex- 
clamation points  at  the  end  of  the  sentence,  and  that 
sentence  is  this  :  As  we  cannot  live  our  lives  over  again, 
the  nearest  we  can  come  to  atone  for  the  past,  is  by 
redoubled  holiness  and  industry  in  the  future  !!! 

'Tis  worth  a  wise  man's  past  of  life, 

'Tis  worth  a  thousand  years  of  strife 

If  thou  canst  lessen  but  by  one 

The  countless  ills  beneath  the  sun. 
If  this  rail  train  of  life  has  been  detained,  and  switch- 
ed off,  and  is  far  behind  the  time  table,  the  engineer  for 
the  rest  of  the  way  must  put  oti  more  pressure  of 
steam,  and  go  a  mile  a  minute,  in  order  to  arrive  at 
the  right  time  and  place  under  the  approval  of  con- 
ductor and  directors. 

A  WORD  TO  THE  YOUNG. 

As  I  supposed  it  would  be,  there  are  multitudes  of 
young  people  listening  to  this  sermon  on  whom  this 
subject  has  acted  with  all  the  force  of  a  galvanic  bat- 
tery. Without  my  saying  a  w^ord  to  them,  they  have 
soliloquized,  saying:  ''As  one  cannot  live  his  life  over 
again,  and  I  can  make  only  one  trip,  I  must  look  out 
and  make  no  mistakes.  I  have  but  one  chance  and  I 
must  make  the  most  of  it.^'  My  young  friends,  lam 
glad  you  made  this  application  of  the  sermon  yourself. 
When  a  minister  tow^ard  the  close  of  his  sermon  says: 
*'Now  a  few  words  by  wa3^  of  application,"  people  be- 
gin to  look  around  for  their  hats,  and  get  their  arm 
through  one  sleeve  of  their  overcoats,  and  the  sermonic 
application  is  a  failure.  I  am  glad  you  made  your  own 
application,  and  that  you  are  resolved,  like  a  Quaker 
o\  whom  I  read  years  ago,  w^ho  in  substance  said:  ''I 
gh^ll  be  ^.long^  this  path  of  life  but  once,  and  so  I  must 


266 


TALMAGE'S  SERMONSi 


do  all  the  kindness  I  can,  and  all  the  good  I  can/'  My 
hearers,  the  mistakes  of  youth  can  never  be  corrected. 
The  time  is  gone  forever.  An  opportunity  passed  a 
thousandth  part  of  a  second  has  by  one  leap  reached 
the  other  side  of  a  great  eternity.  In  the  autumn,  when 
the  birds  migrate,  you  look  up  and  see  the  sky  black 
with  wings  and  the  flocks  stretching  out  into  many 
leagues  of  air,  and  so  today  I  look  up  and  see  two 
large  wings  in  full  sweep.  They  are  the  wings  of  the 
flying  year.  That  is  followed  by  a  flock  of  three  hund- 
red and  sixty-five,  and  they  are  the  fl^^ng  days.  Each 
of  the  flying  da3^s  is  followed  by  twenty -four,  and  they 
are  the  flying  hours,  and  each  of  these  is  followed  by 
sixty,  and  they  are  the  flying  minutes.  Where  did  this 
great  flock  start  from  ?  Eternity  past.  Where  are  they 
bound  ?  Eternity  to  come.  You  might  as  well  go  a- 
gunning  for  the  quails  that  whistled  last  year  in  the 
meadows,  or  the  robins  that  last  year  carolled  in  the 
sky,  as  to  try  to  fetch  down  and  bag  one  of  the  past 
opportunities  of  your  life.  Do  not  say:^'I  will  lounge 
now,  and  make  it  up  afterwards.''  Young  men  and 
boys,  you  cannot  make  it  up. 

SOWING  WILD  OATS.  € 

My  observation  is  that  those  who  in  youth  sowed 
wild  oats,  to  the  end  of  their  shoft  life  sowed  wild 
oats;  and  that  those  who  start  sowing  Genesee  wheat, 
always  sow  Genesee  wheat.   And  then  the  reaping  of 
the  harvests  is  so  different.    There  is  grandfather  now.  , 
He  has  lived  to  old  age  because  his  habits  have  been  ! 
good.   His  eyesight  for  this  world  has  got  somewhat 
dim,  but  his  eyesight  for  heaven  is  radiant.   His  hear-  j 
ing  is  not  so  acute  as  it  once  was  and  he  must  bendi 
clear  oyer  to  hear  what  bi^  little  graudghild  3ay>s  wheal 


LIFE  OVER  AGAIN. 


she  asks  him  what  he  has  brought  for  her.  But  he 
easily  catches  the  music  raised  from  supernal  spheres. 
Men  passing  inthe  streets  take  off  their  hats  in  reverence 
and  women  say:  ''What  a  good  old  man  he  is.'' 
Seventy  or  eighty  yeptrs  all  for  God  and  for  making  this 
world  happy.  Splendid !  Glorious !  Magnificent ! 
He  will  have  hard  work  getting  into  heaven  because 
those  whom  he  helped  to  get  there  will  fill  up  and 
crowd  the  gates  to  tell  him  how  glad  they  are  at  his 
coming  until  he  says:  ''Please  to  stand  back  a  little 
till  I  pass  through  and  cast  my  crown  at  the  feet  of 
Him  whom  having  not  seen  I  love.''  I  do  not  know 
what  you  call  that.  I  call  it  the  harvest  of  Genesee 
wheat. 

Out  yonder  is  a  man  very  old  at  forty  years  of  age, 
at  a  time  when  he  ought  to  be  as  buoyant  as  the  morn- 
ing.  He  got  bad  habits  on  him  very  early,  and  those 
habits  have  become  worse.   He  is  a  man  on  fire,  on  fire 
with  alcoholism,  on  fire  wdth  all  evil  habits,  out  with 
the  world,  and  the  world  out  with  him.   Down  and 
falling  deeper.   His  swollen  hands  in  his  threadbare 
pockets,  and  his  eyes  fixed  on  the  ground,  he  passes 
through  the  street,  and  the  quick  step  of  an  innocent 
child,  or  the  strong  step  of  a  young  man,  or  the  roll  of 
a  prosperous  carriage  maddens  him,  and  he  curses  so- 
ciety and  he  curses  God.   Fallen  sick,withno  resources, 
he  is  carried  to  the  almshouse.    A  loathsome  spectacle 
he  lies  all  day  long  waiting  for  dissolution,  or  in  the 
night  rises  on  his  cot,  and  fights  apparitions  of  w^hat 
he  might  have  been,  and  of  what  he  will  be.  He  started 
life  with  as  good  a  prospect  as  any  man  on  the  American 
continent,  but  there  he  is  a  bloated  carcass,  waiting  for 
the  shovels  of  public  charity  to  put  him  five  feet  under.  He 
has  only  reaped  what  he  sowed.  Harvest  of  w^ld  oats! 


268 


TALMAGE^S  SERMONS. 


There  is  a  way  that  seemeth  right  to  a  man,  but  the 
end  thereof  is  death."  Young  man  as  you  cannot  live 
life  over  again,  however  you  may  long  to  do  so,  be  sure 
to  have  your  one  life  right.  There  is  in  this  august 
assembly  I  wot  not,  for  we  are  made  up  of  all  sections 
of  this  land  and  from  many  lands,  some  young  man  who 
has  gone  away  from  home  and  perhaps  under  some  lit- 
tle spite  or  evil  persuasion  of  another,  and  his  parents 
know  not  where  he  is.  My  son,  go  home !  Do  not  go 
to  sea!  Don't  go  to-night  where  you  may  be  tempted 
l:o  go.  Go  home !  Your  father  will  be  glad  to  see  you, 
and  your  mother,  I  need  not  tell  you  how  she  feels. 
How  I  would  like  to  make  your  parents  a  present  of 
their  wayward  boy,  repentant  and  in  his  right  mind.  I 
would  like  to^writethem  a  letter,  and  you  to  carry  the 
letter  saying:  By  the  blessing  of  God  on  my  sermon, 
I  introduce  to  you  one  whom  you  have  never  seen  before, 
for  he  has  become  a  new  creature  in  Christ  Jesus.''  My 
boy,  go  home  and  put  yourtiredhead  on  the  bosom  that 
nursed  you  so  tenderly  in  your  boyhood  years. 

THE  CAPTIVE  BOY. 

A  young  Scotchman  was  in  battle  taken  captive  by  a 
band  of  Indians,  and  he  learned  their  language,  and 
adopted  their  habits.  Years  passed  on,  but  the  old  Indian 
chieftain  never  forgot  that  he  had  in  possession  a  young 
man  who  did  not  belong  to  him.  Well,  one  day,  this 
tribe  of  Indians  came  in  sight  of  the  Scotch  regiments 
from  whom  this  young  man  had  been  captured,  and  the 
old  Indian  chieftain  said:  **I  lost  my  son  in  battle, 
and  I  know  how  a  father  feels  at  the  loss  of  a  son.  Do 
you  think  your  father  is  yet  alive?"  The  young  man 
said :  I  am  the  only  son  of  my  father,  and  I  hope  he 
is  still  alive. ' '   Then  said  the  Indian  chieftain :  ' '  Because 


UFE  OVER  AGAIN. 


269 


of  the  loss  of  my  son,  this  wor.d  is  a  desert.  You  go 
free.  Return  to  your  countrymen.  Revisit  your  father 
that  he  may  rejoice  when  he  sees  the  sun  rise  in  the 
morning,  and  the  trees  blossom  in*  the  spring/^  Sol 
say  to  you,  young  man.  captive  of  ^waywardness  and 
sin!  Your  father  is  waiting  for  you.  Your  mother  is 
waiting  for  you.  Your  sisters  are  waiting  for  you.  God 
is  waiting  for  you.   Go  home !   Go  home ! 


TREATMENT  OF  PARENTS. 

[Delivered  in  Brooklyn,  N.  Y.,  March  16,  1890.] 
"A  foolish  son  is  the  heaviness  of  his  mother.''  Prov.  x,  i. 

PARENTAL  SOLICITUDE. 

LL  parents  want  their  children  to  turn  out  wv  /I. 
However  poorly  father  and  mother  may  have 
done  themselves,  they  want  their  sons  and 
daughters  to  do  splendidly.  Up  to  forty  years  of  age, 
parents  may  have  ambitions  for  themselves,  after  that 
their  chief  ambitions  ,  are  for  their  children.  Some  of 
the  old  time  names  indicate  this.  The  name  of  Abner 
means ''his  father ^s  lamp."  The  name  Abigail  means 
''her  father's  joy.''  And  what  a  parental  delight  was 
Solomon  to  David,  and  Samuel  to  Hannah,  and  Joseph 

(270) 


TREATMENT  OF  PARENTS. 


271 


to  Jacob !  And  the  best  earthly  stafl' that  a  father  has  to 
lean  on  is  a  good  son,  and  the  strongest  arm  a  mother 
has  to  help  her  down  the  steep  of  years,  is  that  of  a 
grateful  child.  But  it  is  not  a  rare  thing  to  find  people 
filial,  and  often  the  parents  are  themselves  to  blame. 
Aged  persons  sometimes  become  querulous  and  snappy, 
and  the  children  have  their  hands  full  with  the  old 
folks. 

Before  entering  my  profession  I  was  for  three  months 
what  is  called  a  colporteur.  One  day  in  the  country 
districts  I  stopped  at  the  house  of  a  good,  intelligent, 
genial  farmer.  The  hospitality  of  such  a  country  house 
is  especially  pleasing  to  me,  for  I  was  born  in  the  coun- 
try. This  farmer  and  his  wife  were  hardworking  people, 
but  tried  to  make  their  home  agreeable  and  attractive. 
The  farmer^s  father,  about  sixty -five  years  of  age, 
and  his  grandfather,  about  ninety,  were  yet  alive  and 
with  him.  Indeed,  there  were  four  generations  in  the 
house,  for  the  farmer  had  little  children  playing  about 
the  room.  We  gathered  at  the  dining  table.  After  the 
blessing  was  asked,  the  farmer  put  some  of  the  meat 
upon  his  plate,  and  courteously  passed  it  to  me,  when 
his  father  of  sixty-five  years  of  age,  cried  out  to  his  son, 
who  was  at  least  thirty  years  of  age:  '^Why  do  you 
not  pass  the  meat  as  you  always  do,  and  let  us  take 
it  off  the  plate  ourselves  ?  You  are  tr^dng  to  show  oft' 
because  we  have  company.'*  Meanwhile  his  grand- 
father of  ninety  sat  with  his  hat  on  at  the  table,  his  face 
unclean,  and  his  apparel  untidy.  Still,  the  farmer  kept 
his  patience  and  equipoise,  and  I  never  think  of  him 
without  admiration.  He  must  have  had  more  grace 
than  I  ever  had. 

Because  people  are  old  they  have  no  right  to  be  either 
ungentlemanly  or  uncanny.  There  are  old  peopk  60 


272 


talmage's  sermons. 


disagreeable  that  they  have  nearly  broken  up  some 
homes.  The  young  married  man  with  whom  the  aged 
one  lives  stands  it  because  he  has  been  used  to  it  all  his 
life,  but  the  young  wife,  coming  in  from  another  house- 
hold, can  hardly  endure  it,  and  sometimes  almost  cries 
her  eyes  out.  And  when  little  children  gather  in  the 
house,  they  are  afraid  of  the  venerable  patriarch,  who 
has  forgotten  that  he  ever  was  a  child  himself,  and  can- 
not understand  why  children  should  ever  want  to  play 
**hide  and  seek,^'  or  roll  hoop,  or  fly  kite,  and  he  becomes 
impatient  at  the  sound  from  the  nursery,  and  shouts 
with  an  expenditure  of  voice  that  keeps  him  coughing 
fifteen  minutes  afterwards,  *^Boys!  stop  that  racket!" 
as  though  any  boy  that  ever  amounted  to  anything  in 
the  world,  did  not  begin  life  by  making  a  racket ! 

Indeed,  there  are  children  who  owe  nothing  to  their 
parents,  for  those  parents  have  been  profligates.  My 
lamented  friend,  good  and  Christian  and  lovely  Henry 
Wilson,  Vice  President  of  the  United  States,  in  early  life 
changed  his  name.  He  dropped  his  father's  name  be- 
cause that  father  was  a  drunkard  and  a  disgrace,  and 
the  boy  did  not  feel  called  upon  to  carry  such  a  carcass 
all  his  life.  While  children  must  always  be  dutiful,  I 
sympathize  with  all  young  people  who  have  disagree- 
able or  unprincipled  old  folks  around  the  house.  Some 
of  us,  drawing  out  of  our  memories,  know  that  it  is 
possible,  after  sixty,  or  seventy,  or  eighty,  or  ninety 
years  of  age,  for  the  old  to  be  kind  and  genial,  and  the 
grandest  adornment  of  a  home  is  an  aged  father  and  an 
aged  mother,  if  the  process  of  years  has  mellowed  them. 

Besides  that,  if  your  old  parents  are  hard  to  ;gct  along 
with  now,  you  must  remember  there  was  a  time  when 
they  had  hard  work  to  get  along  with  you.  When  you 
-vv^re  about  ftye,  or  ^cven,  or  ten,  ortwdve  y^ars  pf  ag"e, 


TREATMENT  OF  PARENTS. 


273 


what  a  time  they  had  with  you !  If  they  had  kept  a 
written  account  of  your  early  pranks  and  misdoings,  it 
would  make  a  whole  volume.  That  time  when  you 
gave  your  little  sister  a  clip;  that  time  when  you  ex- 
plored the  depth  of  ajar  of  sweet  things,  for  which  you 
had  no  permission;  that  havoc  you  one  day  made  with 
your  jack-knife;  that  plucking  from  the  orchard  of  unripe 
fruit;  that  day  when,  instead  of  being  at  school,  as  jour 
parents  supposed,  you  went  a-fishing;  and  many  a  time 
did  you  imperil  your  young  life  in  places  where  you  had 
no  business  to  climb,  or  swim,  or  venture.  To  get  you 
through  your  first  fifteen  years  with  your  life,  and  your 
good  morals,  was  a  fearful  draft  on  parental  fidelity 
and  endurance. 

Indeed,  it  may  be  that  much  of  this  present  physical 
and  mental  weakness  in  your  parents  may  have  been  a 
result  of  your  early  waywardness.  You  made  such  large 
and  sudden  drafts  upon  the  bank  of  their  patience,  that 
you  broke  the  bank.  They  were  injured  in  being  thrown 
while  trying  to  break  the  colt.  It  is  a  matter  of  only 
common  honesty  that  you  pay  back  to  them  some  of 
the  long  suffering  which  they  paid'  to  you.  A  father 
said  to  his  son:  Surely  no  father  ever  had  as  bad  a 
boy  as  I  have.^*  Yes,''  said  the  son,  "  my  grandfather 
had."  It  is  about  the  same  from  generation  to  ge- 
neration and  parents  need  to  be  patient  with 
children,  and  children  dutiful  to  their  parents.  Taking 
it  for  granted  that  those  who  hear  me  to-da\^  have  had 
a  good  parentage,  I  want  to  urge  upon  all  the  young 
the  fact  that  the  happiness  and  longevit3^  of  parents 
much  depend  upon  the  right  behavior  of  their  children, 
and  I  can  do  this  no  more  effectually  than  b\"  demon- 
strating the  truth  of  my  text,  '*A  foolis^h  son  is  th? 
heaviness  of  his  mother/' 


274 


talmagk's  sermons. 


Perhaps  some  young  man  astray  maj^  be  brought 
back  by  a  thought  of  how  they  feel  about  him  at  home. 
A  French  soldier  lay  wounded  and  dying  in  the  hospital 
at  Geneva,  Switzerland.  His  father,  at  home,  70  years 
of  age,  heard  of  his  son's  suffering,  and  started,  and  took  ^ 
the  long  journey,  and  found  the  hospital;  and  as  he  en- 
tered the  son  cried:  O,  father,  I  am  so  glad  you  have  come 
to  see  me  die.''  No,"  said  the  father,  *'you  are  not 
going  to  die;  your  mother  is  waiting  for  you,  and  I  am 
going  to  take  you  home;  I  have  brought  you  money  and 
everything  you  need."  *'No,"  said  the  soldier, 'Hhey,  , 
give  me  here  everything  that  is  nice  to  eat,  but  I  have  no 
appetite,  and  I  must  die."  Then  the  father  took  front 
his  knapsack  a  loaf  of  rye  bread,  such  as  the  plain  peo- 
ple of  this  country  ate,  and  said,  Here  is  a  loaf  of  bread 
your  mother  made,  and  I  am  sure  you  can  eat  this;  she 
sent  it  to  you."  Then  the  soldier  brightened  up  and 
took  the  bread  and  ate  it,  and  said:  *^It  is  so  good,  the 
bread  from  home,  the  bread  that  my  mother  made!" 
No  wonder  that  in  a  few  days  he  recovered.  O,  young 
man,  wounded  in  the  battle  of  life,  and  discouraged, 
given  up  by  yourself,  and  given  up  by  others,  the  old 
folks  at  the  country  fireside  have  not  given  you  up.  I 
bring  you  bread  from  home.  It  may  be  plain  bread, 
but  it  is  that  bread  of  which  if  a  man  eat  he  never  again 
shall  hunger.   Bread  from  home !   Bread  from  home ! 

Carrying  out  the  idea  of  my  text,  I  remark  that  a 
reckless  or  dissipated  son  makes  a  heavy-hearted  parent 
because  it  hurts  the  family  pride.  It  is  not  the  given 
name,  or  the  name  which  you  received  at  the  christen- 
ing,  thaA  is  injured  by  prodigality.  You  cannot  hurt 
your  name  of  John,  or  George,  or  Henry,  or  Mary,  or 
Frances,  or  Rachel,  because  there  have  been  thousands 
of  pec?ple,  good  and  bad,  hiring  thos^  uames,  ^nd  you 


TREATMENT  OF  PARENTS. 


275 


cannot  improve  or  depreciate  the  respectability  of  those 
given  names.  But  it  Is  your  last  name,  your  family 
name,  that  is  at  your  mercy.  All  who  bear  that  name 
are  bound,  before  God  and  man,  not  to  damage  its 
happy  significance.  You  are  charged,  by  all  the  gener- 
ations of  the  past  and  all  the  generations  to  come,  to 
do  your  share  for  the  protection,  and  the  honor,  and 
the  integrity  of  that  name.  You  have  no  right,  my 
young  friend,  by  a  bad  life,  to  blot  the  old  family  Bible 
containing  the  story  of  marriages  and  births  and  deaths 
of  the  years  gone  by,  or  to  cast  a  blot  upon  the  family 
Bibles  whose  records  are  yet  to  be  opened. 

There  are  in  our  American  city  directories  names  that 
always  suggest  commercial  dishonesty,  or  libertinism,, 
or  cruelty,  or  meanness,just  because  one  man  or  woman 
bearing  that  name  cursed  it  forever  by  miscreancy. 
Look  out  how  you  stab  the  family  name !  It  is  especial- 
ly dear  to  your  mother.  She  was  not  born  under  that 
name,  but  the  years  passed  on  and  she  came  to  young 
womanhood,  and  she  saw  some  one  with  whom  she 
could  trust  her  happiness,  her  life  and  her  immortal 
destiny;  and  she  took  his  name,  took  it  while  the  orange 
blossoms  were  filling  the  air  with  fragrance,  took  it 
with  joined  hands,  took  it  while  the  heavens  witnessed. 
She  chose  it  out  of  all  the  family  names  since  the  world 
stood,  chose  it  for  better  or  worse,  through  sickness 
and  health,  by  cradles  and  by  graves. 

Yea,  she  put  off  her  old  family  name  to  take  the  family 
name  you  now  bear,  and  she  has  done  her  part  to 
make  it  an  honorable  name.  How  heavy  a  trouble  you 
put  upon  her  when,  by  misdeeds,  you  wrench  thatname 
from  its  high  significance !  To  haul  it  down  from  your 
mother's  forehead  and  trample  it  in  the  dust  would  be 
criminal.  Your  father's  name  may  not  be  a  distinguished 


276 


TAJ^MAGE^S  SERMOKg. 


name,  but  I  hope  it  stands  for  something  good.  It  may 
be  famous,  Hke  that  of  Homer,  the  father  of  epic  poetry, 
or  Isaak  Walton,  the  father  of  angling,  or  ^schylus, 
the  father  of  tragedy,  or  Ethelwold,  the  father  of  monks, 
or  Herodotus,  the  father  of  history,  or  Thomas  Aquinas, 
the  father  of  moral  philosophy,  or  Abraham,  the  father 
of  the  faithful,  but  your  father  has  a  name  in  a  small 
circle,  as  precious  to  him  as  theirs  in  a  larger  circle. 
Look  out  how  you  tarnish  it. 

Further,  the  recklessness  and  dissipation  of  a  young 
man  are  a  cause  of  parental  distress  at  a  time  when  the 
parent  is  less  able  to  bear  it.  The  vicissitudes  of  life 
have  left  their  impression  upon  those  parents.  The  eye 
is  not  as  clear  as  once,  nor  the  hearing  as  acute,  nor 
the  nerves  as  steady,  nor  the  step  as  strong,  and  with 
the  tide  of  incoming  years  comes  the  weight  of  unfilial 
behavior.  You  take  your  parents  at  a  great  disad- 
vantage, for  they  cannot  stand  as  much  as  they  once 
could.  They  have  not  the  elasticity  of  feeling  with 
which  they  once  could  throw  off  trouble.  That  shoulder, 
now  somewhat  bent,  cannot  bear  as  heavy  a  burden 
as  once  it  could.  At  the  time  when  the  machinery  is 
worn  out  you  put  upon  it  the  most  terrific  strain. 

At  sixty  and  seventy  years  the  vitality  is  not  as  strong 
as  at  thirty  or  forty.  Surely  they  are  descending  the 
down  grade  of  life  swiftly  enough  without  your  increasing 
the  momentum.  They  will  be  gone  soon  enough  with- 
out your  pushing  them  away.  Call  in  all  the  doctors 
who  ever  lived  since  Hippocrates  raised  medicine  from 
a  superstition  to  a  science,  and  they  could  not  cure  the 
heartbreak  of  a  mother  over  her  ruined  boy.  There 
may  be,  as  some  suppose,  enough  herbs  on  earth,  if  dis- 
covered, to  cure  all  the  ailments  of  the  body,  but  nothing 
save  a  leaf  from  the  trees  of  the  heavenly  paradise  can  cure 


TREATMENT  OF  PARENTS. 


277 


a  wound  made  by  a  foolish  son  who  is  the  heaviness  of  his 
mother. 

Perhaps  it  is  a  good  thing  that  cruel  treatment  by  a 
child  abbreviates  a  parent's  life,  for  what  is  there  desir- 
able in  a  father's  life  or  a  mother's  life  if  its  peace  is 
gone?  Do  you  not  think  death  is  something  beneficent 
if  it  stops  the  mother's  heart  from  aching  and  her  eyes 
from  weeping,  arid  says:  *^You  need  not  bear  the  ex- 
cruciation any  longer.  Go  and  sleep.  I  will  put  the 
defense  of  a  marble  slab  between  you  and  that  boy's 
outrages.  Go  now  where  the  wicked  cease  from  troub- 
ling and  the  weary  are  at  rest!"  At  the  departure  of 
such  mothers  let  the  music  be  an  anthem  instead  of  a 
dirge.  While  you  and  I  hear  no  sound,  yet  there  are  at 
this  moment  tens  of  thousands  of  parental  hearts  break- 
ing. All  care  was  taken  with  the  boy's  schooling,  all 
good  cousels  given,  and  the  equipment  for  a  sober,  ear- 
nest and  useful  life  was  provided,  but  it  has  all  gone, 
and  the  foolish  son  has  become  the  heaviness  of  his 
mother. 

Much  of  the  poignancy  of  the  parental  grief  arises 
from  the  ingratitude  of  such  behavior.  What  an 
undertaking  it  is  to  conduct  a  family  through  the  ail- 
ments and  exposures  of  early  life!  Talk  about  the 
skill  demanded  of  a  sea  captain  commanding  a  ship 
across  the  ocean !  That  requires  less  skill  than  to 
navigate  a  young  soul  in  safety  across  the  infantile 
and  bo^^hood  years.  The  sickness  that  assault,  the 
temptations  that  entrap,  the  anxieties  that  are  excited ! 
Young  men  you  will  never  know  what  your  mother 
has  suffered  for  you.  You  will  never  know  how  your 
father  has  toiled  for  you.  You  have  been  in  all  their 
thoughts,  in  all  their  plans,  in  all  their  prayers,  from 
the  time  your  first  breath  was  drawn  to  this  moment's 


278 


TALMAGE^S  SERMONS. 


respiration.  What  the^^  could  do  for  your  health,  what 
they  could  do  for  your  happiness,  what  they  could 
do  for  your  mind,  what  they  could  do  for  your  soul, 
have  been  absorbing  questions.  To  earn  a  livelihood 
for  you  has  not  always  been  an  easy  thing  for  your 
father.  By  what  fatigues  of  body  and  what  distur- 
bances of  mind,  and  long  years  of  struggle,  in  which 
sometimes  the  losses  were  greater  than  the  gains,  he 
got  bread  for  you,  paying  for  it  in  the  sweat  of  his 
own  brow  and  the  red  drops  of  his  own  hearths  blood! 
He  looks  older  than  he  ought  to  look  at  his  years,  for 
it  has  been  work,  work,  work.  Many  a  time  he  felt 
like  giving  up  the  battle,  but  then  he  looked  at  your 
helplessness,  and  the  helplessness  of  the  household,  and 
then  he  nerved  himself  up  anew  and  said:  *^By  the  help 
of  God  I  will  not  stop;  my  children  must  have  a  home 
and  education  and  advantages,  and  a  comfortable  start- 
ing in  the  world,  and  I  must  get  a  little  something 
ahead,  so  that  if  I  am  taken  away  these  helpless  ones 
will  not  be  turned  out  on  the  cold  charities  of  the 
world.''  Yes,  your  father  has  been  a  good  friend  to 
you.  He  has  never  told  any  one,  and  he  never  will 
tell  any  one,  of  the  sacrifices  he  has  made  for  you.  And 
he  is  ready  to  keep  right  on  until  that  hand  that 
has  been  toiling  for  you  all  these  years  shall  come  the 
very  numbness  of  death.  You  cannot  afford  to  break 
his  heart.  But  you  are  doing  it.  Yes,  you  are.  You 
have  driven  the  dagger  clear  in  up  to  the  hilt. 

And  your  mother — I  warrant  she  has  never  told  you 
much  about  the  night  when  you  were  down  with  scarlet 
fever,  or  diphtheria,  and  she  slept  not  a  wink,  or,  falling 
into  drowisness,  your  first  cry  awakened  her,  and 
brought  the  words,  What  is  it,  my  dear?''  Oh,  if  the 
old  rocking  chair  could  speak!   Oh,  if  the  cradle  could 


o 


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o 

o 

in 
o 

i 

Q 


TREATMENT  OF  PARENTS. 


281 


only  tell  its  story  of  years  !  And  when  you  got  better, 
and  were  fretful  and  hard  to  please,  as  is  usual  in  con- 
valescence, she  kept  her  patience  so  well,  and  was  as 
kind  as  you  were  unreasonable.  Oh,  midnight  of 
motherly  watching,  how  can  you  keep  silent?  Speak 
out  and  tell  that  wandering  young  man  the  story  that 
he  so  much  needs  to  hear. 

WHAT  HAS  BECOME  OF  THE  OLD  CRADLE? 

By  the  bye,  I  wonder  what  has  become  of  our  old 
cradle  in  which  all  of  us  children  were  rocked !  I  must 
ask  my  sister  when  I  see  her  next  time.  We  were  a 
large  family  and  that  old  cradle  was  going  a  good  many 
years.  I  remember  just  how  it  looked.  It  was  old- 
fashioned  and  had  no  tapestry.  Its  two  sides  and  can- 
opy all  ofplain  wood,  but  there  was  a  great  deal  of  sound 
sleeping  in  that^radle,  and  many  aches  and  pains  were 
soothed  by  it  as  it  moved  to  and  fro  by  day  and 
night.  Most  vividly  I  remember  that  the  rockers  which 
came  out  from  under  the  cradle  were  on  the  top  and  side 
very  smooth,  so  smooth  that  they  actually  glistened. 
They  must  have  been  worn  smooth  by  a  foot  that  long 
ago  ceased  its  journey.  How  tired  the  foot  that  pressed 
it  must  sometimes  have  got!  But  it  did  not  stop  for 
that.  It  went  right  on  and  rocked  for  Phebe  the  first 
and  for  De  Witt  the  last.  And  it  was  a  cradle  like  that, 
or  perhaps  of  modern  make  and  richly  upholstered,  in 
which  your  mother  rocked  you.  Can  it  be  that  for  all 
that  care  and  devotion  you  are  paying  her  back  with 
harsh  words,  or  neglect,  or  a  wicked  life?  Then  I  must 
tell  you  that  you  are  the  foolish  son  who  is  the  heavi- 
ness of  his  mother.''  Better  go  home  and  kiss  her,  and 
ask  her  forgiveness.  Kiss  her  on  the  lips  that  have  so 
often  prayed  for  you.    Kiss  her  on  the  forehead  that  so 


282 


TALMAGE^S  SERMox^, 


often  ached  for  yon.  Kiss  her  in  the  eyes  that  have  so 
often  wept  over  you.  Better  go  right  away,  for  she  will 
be  dead  before  long.  And  how  will  you  feel  then  after 
you  realize  it  is  your  waywardness  that  killed  her? 
Romulus  made  no  law  against  patricide,  or  the  slaying 
of  a  father;  matricide,  or  the  slaying  of  a  mother,  be 
cause  he  considered  such  crimes  impossible,  and  for  six 
hundred  years  there  was  not  a  crime  of  that  sort  in 
Rome.  But  then  came  Lucius  Ostus  and  slew  his  father, 
proving  the  crime  possible.  Now  do  you  not  think  that 
the  <!hild  who  by  wrong  behavior  sends  his  father  to  a 
premature  grave  is  a  patricide,  or  who  by  misconduct 
hastens  a  mother  into  a  tomb  is  a  matricide? 

The  heaviness  of  parents  over  a  son's  depravity  is  all 
the  greater  because  it  means  spiritual  disaster  and  over- 
throw. That  is  the  worst  thing  about  it.  In  the 
pension  regulations  a  soldier  receives  for  loss  of  both 
hands  and  feet  $72.  For  loss  of  one  hand  and  one  foot 
$36.  For  loss  of  a  hand  or  foot  $30.  For  loss  of  both 
eyes  $72.  But  who  can  calculate  the  value  of  a  whole 
man  ruined  body,  mind  and  soul  ?  How  can  parents 
have  any  happiness  about  your  future  destiny,  oh  young 
man  gone  astray  ?  Can  such  opposite  lives  as  you  and 
they  are  living  come  out  at  the  same  place  ?  Can  holi- 
ness and  dissipation  enter  the  same  gate?  Where  is 
the  little  prayer  that  was  taught  you  at  your  mother's 
knee?  Is  the  God  they  loved  and  worshiped  your  God? 
It  is  your  soul  about  which  they  are  most  anxious,  your 
roul  that  shall  live  after  the  earth  itself  shall  be  girdled 
with  flames,  and  the  flames,  dying  down,  willleavethe 
planet  only  a  live  coal,  and  the  live  coal  shall  have  become 
ashes,  and  then  the  ashes  shall  be  scattered  by  the 
whirlwinds  of  the  Almighty. 

' ^  But, says  some  young  man,  ^'my  mother  is  gone; 


TREATMENT  OF  PARENTS. 


283 


my  behavior  now  will  not  trouble  her  any  more  at  all." 
Oh  that  those  lips  had  language.  Life  has  passed 
With  me  but  roughly  since  I  heard  thee  last. 
What !  Is  she  dead?  How  you  startle  me !  Is  she  dead  ! 
Then  perhaps  you  have  her  picture.  Hang  it  up  in  your 
room  in  the  place  where  you  oftenest  look.  Go  and 
study  her  features,  and  while  you  are  looking  the  past 
will  come  back,  and  you  ma^'^  hear  her  voice,  which  is 
now  so  still,  speak  again,  saying:  From  my  heavenly 
home,  my  dear  boy,  I  solicit  your  reformation  and  sal- 
vation. Go  to  the  Christ  who  pardoned  me,  and  He 
will  pardon  you.  My  heaven  will  not  be  complete  till  I 
hear  of  your  changing.  But  I  will  hear  of  it  right  a wa3^ 
for  there  is  joy  up  here  when  one  sinner  repenteth;  and 
oh,  that  the  next  news  of  that  kind  that  comes  tip  here, 
might  come  up  regarding  you,  oh  my  child  of  many 
tears  and  anxieties  and  prayers?'^ 

Come,  my  boy,  do  you  not  hear  your  mother's  voice? 
O  my  son,  my  son,  would  God  that  I  could  die  for  thee! 
O  my  son,  my  son!  Young  man,  what  news  for  heaven 
would  be  your  conversion.  Swifter  than  telegraphic 
wire  ever  carried  congratulations  to  a  wedding  or  a 
coronation  would  fly  heavenward  the  news  of  your  de- 
liverance; and  whether  the  one  most  interested  in  your 
salvation  were  on  river  bank,  or  in  the  temple,  or  on  the 
battlements,  or  in  the  great  tower,  the  message  would 
be  instantly  received,  and  before  this  service  is  closed 
angel  would  cry  to  angel:  ^^Have  you  heard  the  news? 
Out  yonder  is  a  mother  who  has  just  heard  of  her  way- 
ward boy^s  redemption.  Another  prodigal  has  got 
home.  The  dead  is  alive  again,  and  the  lost  is  found. 
Hallelujah!  Amen!'' 


THE  TEMPTATIOX  OF  JESUS. 


SNGELOLOGY. 


[Delivered  in  Brooklyn,  N.  Y.,  March  23,  1890.] 
**And  the  Angel  did  wondrovsly/^  Judges  xiii,  19. 

'^^^IRE  built  on  a  rock.  Manoah  and  his  wife  had 
Ifet  there  kindled  the  flames  for  sacrifice  in  praise  of 
^jlfe  God,  and  in  honor  of  a  guest  whom  they  supposed 
to  be  a  man.  But  as  the  flame  rose  higher  and  higher, 
their  stranger  guest  stepped  into  the  flame,  and  by  one 
red  leap  ascended  into  the  skies.  Then  they  knew^  that 
he  was  an  Angel  of  the  Lord.  '^The  angel  did  won- 
drously.'^ 

Two  hundred  and  forty-eight  times  does  the  Bible 
refer  to  the  angels,  yet  I  never  heard  or  read  a  sermon 
on  Angelology.  The  whole  subject  is  relegated  to  the 
realm  mythical,  weird,  spectral  and  unknown.  Such 
adjournment  is  unscriptural  and  wicked.    Of  their  life, 

(285) 


286 


talmage's  sermons. 


their  character,  their  habits,  their  actions,  their  veloci- 
ties, the  Bible  gives  us  full  length  portraits,  and  why 
this  prolonged  and  absolute  silence  concerning  them  ? 
Angelology  is  my  theme. 

There  are  two  nations  of  angels,  and  they  are  hostile 
to  each  other;  the  nation  of  good  angels  and  the  nation 
of  bad  angels.  Of  the  former  I  chiefly  speak  to-day. 
Their  capital,  their  headquarters,  their  grand  rendez- 
vous, is  heaven,  but  their  empire  is  the  universe.  They 
are  a  distinct  race  of  creatures.  No  human  being  can 
ever  join  their  confraternity.  The  little  child  who  in  the 
Sabbath  school  sings,  ''I  want  to  be  an  angel,''  will 
never  have  her  wish  gratified.  They  are  superhuman, 
but  they  are  of  different  grades  and  ranks,  not  all  on 
the  same  level,  or  the  same  height.  They  have  their  su- 
periors and  inferiors  and  equals.  I  propose  no  guessing 
on  this  subject,  but  take  the  Bible  for  my  only  authority. 
Plato,  the  philosopher, guessed,  and  divided  angels  into 
super-celestial,  celestial  and  sub-celestial.  Dion^^sius, 
the  Areopagite,  guessed,  and  divided  them  into  three 
cla9?»es— the  supreme,  the  middle,  and  the  last— and  each 
of  these  into  three  other  classes,  making  nine  in  all. 

Philo  said  that  the  angels  were  related  to  God,  as  the 
rays  to  the  sun.  Fulgentius  said  that  they  were  com- 
posed of  body  and  spirit.  Clement  said  they  were  in- 
corporeal. Augustine  said  that  they  had  been  in  dan- 
ger of  falling,  but  now  are  beyond  being  tempted.  But 
the  only  authority  on  this  subject  that  I  respect  says 
they  are  divided  into  Cherubim,  Seraphim,  Thrones, 
Dominations,  Principalities,  Powers.  Their  comman- 
der in  chief  is  Michael.  Daniel  called  him  Michael,  St. 
John  called  him  Michael.  These  supernal  beings  arc 
more  thoroughly  organized  than  any  army  that  ever 
marched,   They  are  swifter  than  any  cyclone  that  ever 


ANGELOLOGY. 


287 


swept  the  sea.  They  are  more  radiant  than  any  morn- 
ing that  ever  came  down  from  the  sky.  They  have 
more  to  do  with  your  destiny  and  mine  than  any  being 
in  the  universe  except  God.  May  the  angel  of  the  New 
Covenant,  who  ic-  the  Lord  Jesus,  open  our  eyes,  and 
touch  our  tongue,  and  rouse  our  soul,  while  we  speak 
of  their  deathlessness,  their  intelligence,  their  numbers, 
their  strength,  their  achievements. 

Yes,  deathless.  They  had  a  cradle,  but  will  never 
have  a  grave.  The  Lord  remembers  when  they  were 
bom,  but  no  one  shall  ever  see  their  eye  extinguished, 
or  their  momentum  slow  up,  or  their  existence  termi- 
nate. The  oldest  of  them  has  not  a  wrinkle,  or  a  decrep- 
itude, or  a  hindrance;  as  young  after  six  thousand 
years  as  at  the  close  of  their  first  hour.  Christ  said  of 
the  good  in  heaven,  Neither  can  they  die  any  more,  for 
they  are  equal  unto  the  angels.*^  Yes,  deathless  are 
these  wonderful  creatures  of  whom  I  speak.  They  will 
see  world  after  world  go  out,  but  there  shall  be  no  fa- 
ding in  their  own  brilliance.  Yea,  after  the  last  world 
has  taken  its  last  flight  they  will  be  ready  for  the  wid- 
est circuit  through  immensity,  taking  a  quadrillion  of 
miles  in  one  sweep  as  easy  as  a  pigeon  circles  a  dovecot. 
They  are  never  sick.  They  are  never  exhausted.  They 
need  no  sleep,  for  they  are  never  tired.  At  God^s  com- 
mand they  smote  with  death,  in  one  night,  one  hundred 
and  eighty-five  thousand  of  Sennacherib's  host,  but  no 
fatality  can  smite  them.  Awake,  agile,  multipotent, 
deathless,  immortal! 

ANGELIC  INTELLIGENCE. 

A  further  characteristic  of  these  radiant  folk  is  in- 
telligence. The  woman  of  Tekoah  was  right  when  she 
spoke  to  King  David  of  the  wisdom  of  an  angel.  We 


288 


talmage's  sermons. 


take  in  what  little  we  know  through  the  eye  and  ear 
and  nostril  and  touch;  but  these  beings  have  no  physical 
encasement  and  hence  they  are  all  senses.  A  wall  five 
feet  thick  is  not  solid  to  them.  Through  it  they  go 
without  disturbing  flake  of  motar  or  crystal  sand. 
Knowledge!  It  flashes  on  them.  They  take  it  in  at  all 
points.  They  absorb  it.  They  gather  it  up  without 
any  hinderment.  No  need  of  literature  for  them !  The 
letters  of  their  books  are  stars.  The  dashes  of  their 
books  are  meteors.  The  words  of  their  books  are  con- 
stellations. The  paragraphs  of  their  books  are  galax- 
ies. The  pictures  of  their  books  are  sunrises,  and  sun- 
sets, and  midnight  auroras,  and  the  Conqueror  on  the 
white  horse  with  the  moon  under  his  feet,  and  seas  of 
glass  mingled  with  fire.  Their  library  is  an  open  uni- 
verse. No  need  of  telescope  to  see  something  millions 
of  miles  away,  for  instantly  they  are  there  to  inspect 
and  explore  it.  All  astronomies,  geologies,  all  botanies, 
all  philosophies  at  their  feet, What  an  opportunity  for 
intelligence  is  theirs.  What  facilities  for  knowing  every- 
thing and  knowing  it  right  away ! 

There  is  only  one  thing  that  puts  them  to  their  wits 
end,  and  the  Bible  says  they  have  to  study  that.  They 
have  been  studying  it  all  through  the  ages,  and  yet  I 
warrant  they  have  not  fully,  grasped  it — the  wonders 
of  Redemption.  These  w^onders  arc  so  high,  so  deep,  so  , 
grand,  so  stependous,  so  magnificent  that  even  the  in-  ^ 
telligence  of  angelhood  is  confounded  before  it.  The 
apostle  says:  Which  things  the  angels  desire  to  look 
into.''  That  is  a  subject  that  excites  inquisitiveness  on 
their  part.  That  is  a  thing  that  ctrains  their  faculties 
to  their  utmost.  That  is  higher  than  they  can  climb 
and  deeper  than  they  can  dive.  They  have  a  desire  for 
something  deeper  than  their  comprehension.  Which 


ANGELOLOGY. 


289 


things  the  angels  desire  to  look  into."  But  that  does 
not  discredit  their  intelligence.  No  one  but  God  him- 
self can  fully  understand  the  wonders  of  Redemption. 
If  all  heaven  should  should  study  it  for  fifty  eternities 
they  would  get  no  further  than  the  A  B  C  of  that  in- 
exhaustible subject.  But  nearly  all  other  realms  of 
knowledge  they  have  ransacked,  explored  and  com- 
passed. No  one  but  God  can  tell  them  anything  they 
do  not  know.  They  have  read  to  the  last  word  of  the 
last  line  of  the  last  page  of  the  last  volume  of  investi- 
gation. And  what  delights  me  most  is  that  all  their 
intelligence  is  at  our  disposal,  and  coming  into  their 
presence,  they  will  tell  us  in  five  minutes  more  than  we 
can  learn  by  one  hundred  years  of  earthly  surmising. 

ANGELIC  VELOCITY. 

A  further  characteristic  of  these  immortals  is  their 
velocity.  This  the  Bible  puts  sometimes  under  the 
figure  of  wings,  sometimes  under  the  figure  of  a  flow- 
ing garment,  sometimes  under  the  figure  of  naked  feet. 
As  these  superhumans  are  without  bodies,  these  ex- 
pressions are  of  course  figurative,  and  mean  swiftness. 
The  Bible  tells  us  that  Daniel  was  praying,  and  Gabriel 
flew  from  heaven  and  touched  him  before  he  got  up 
from  his  knees.  How  far,  then  did  the  angel  Gabriel 
have  to  fly  in  those  moments  of  Daniel's  prayer? 
Heaven  is  thought  to  be  the  center  of  the  universe.  Our 
sun  and  its  planets  only  the  rim  of  the  wheel  of  worlds. 
In  a  moment  the  angel  Gabriel  flew  from  that  center 
to  this  periphery.  Jesus  told  Peter  that  he  could  in- 
stantly have  sixty  thousand  angels  present  if  he  called 
for  them.  What  foot  of  antelope  or  wing  of  albatross 
could  equal  that  velocity  ?  Law  of  gravitation,  which 
grips  all  things  else,  has  no  influence  upon  angelic  mo- 


2©®  talmage's  sermons. 

men  turn.  Immensities  before  them  open  and  shnt  like  a 
fan.  That  they  are  here  is  no  reason  why  they  should 
not  be  a  quintillion  of  miles  hence  the  next  minute. 
Our  bodies  hinder  us,  but  our  minds  can  circle  the 
earth  in  a  minute.  Angelic  beings  are  bodiless  and 
have  no  limitation.  God  may  with  his  finger  point 
down  to  some  world  in  trouble  on  the  outmost  limits 
of  creation,  and  instantly  an  angelic  cohort  is  there  to 
help  it.  Or  some  celestial  may  be  standing  at  the 
furthermost  outpost  of  immmensity,  and  God  may  say 
^^Come!'' and  instantly  it  is  in  his  bosom.  Abraham, 
Elijah,  Hagar,  Joshua,  Gideon,  Manoah,  Paul,  St.  John, 
could  tell  of  their  unhindered  locomotion.  The  red  feet 
of  summer  lightning  are  slow  compared  with  their 
hegiras.  This  doubles  up  and  compresses  infinitudes 
into  infinitesimals.  Ihis  puts  all  the  astronomical 
heavens  into  a  space  like  the  balls  of  a  child's  rattle. 
This  mingles  into  one  the  Here  and  the  There,  the  Now 
and  the  Then,  the  Beyond  and  the  Yonder. 

ANGELIC  MULTITUDES. 

Another  remark  I  have  to  make  concerning  these 
illustrious  immortals  is  that  they  are  multitudinous. 
Their  census  has  never  been  taken,  and  no  one  but  God 
knows  how  many  they  are,  but  all  the  Bible  accounts 
suggest  their  immense  numbers.  Companies  of  them, 
regiments  of  them,  armies  of  them,  mountain  tops 
haloed  by  them ,  skies  populous  with  them .  John  speaks 
of  angels  and  other  beings  round  the  throne  as  ten 
thousand  times  ten  thousand.  Now  according  to 
my  calculation,  ten  thousand  times  ten  thousand 
are  one  hundred  million.  But  these  arc  only  the  , 
angels  in  one  place.  David  counted  twenty  thousand  j 
of  them  rolling  down  the  sky  in  chariots.    When  God 


ANGELOLOGY. 


291 


came  away  from  the  riven  rocks  of  Mount  Sinai,  the 
Bible  says  He  had  the  companionship  of  ten  thousand 
angels.  I  think  they  are  in  every  battle,  in  every  exi- 
gency, at  every  birth,  at  every  pillow,  at  every  hour,  at 
every  moment.  The  earth  full  of  them.  The  heavens 
full  of  them.  They  outnumber  the  human  race  in  this 
world.  They  outnumber  ransomed  spirits  in  glory. 
When  Abraham  had  his  knife  uplifted  to  slay  Isaac,  it 
was  an  angel  who  arrested  the  stroke,  crying:  ^Abraham! 
Abraham!''  It  was  a  stairway  of  angels  that  Jacob 
saw  while  pillowed  in  the  wilderness.  We  are  told  an 
angel  led  the  hosts  oflsraelites  out  of  Egyptian  serfdom. 
It  was  an  angel  that  showed  Hagar  the  fountain  where 
she  filled  the  bottle  for  the  lad.  It  was  an  angel  that 
took  Lot  out  of  doomed  Sodom.  It  was  an  angel  that 
shut  up  the  mouth  of  the  hungry  monsters  when  Daniel 
was  thrown  into  the  caverns.  It  was  an  angel  that  fed 
Elijah  under  the  juniper  tree.  It  was  an  angel  that  an- 
nounced to  Mary  the  approaching  nativity.  They  were 
angels  that  chanted  when  Christ  was  born.  It  was  an 
angel  that  strengthened  our  Saviour  in  his  agony.  It 
was  an  angel  that  encouraged  PaulintheMediteranean 
shipwreck.  It  was  an  angel  that  burst  open  the  prison, 
gate  after  gate,  until  Peter  was  liberated.  It  was  an 
angel  that  stirred  the  Pool  of  Siloam  where  the  sick 
were  healed.  It  was  an  angel  that  John  saw  flying 
through  the  midst  of  heaven,  and  an  angel  with  foot 
planted  on  the  sea,  and  an  angel  that  opened  the  book, 
and  an  angel  that  sounded  the  trumpet,  and  an  angel 
that  thrast  in  the  sickle,  and  an  angel  that  poured  out 
the  vials,  and  an  angel  standing  in  the  sun.  It  will  be 
an  angel  with  uplifted  hand,  swearing  that  Time  shall 
be  no  longer.  In  the  great  final  harvest  of  the  world, 
the  reapers  are  the  angels.   Yea,  the  Lord  shall  be  re- 


292 


TAMAGE'S  SERMONS. 


vealed  from  heaven  with  mighty  angels.    Oh,  the  num 
bers  and  the  might  and  the  glory  of  these  supernals! 
Fleets  of  them !   Squadrons  of  them !  Host  beyond  host! 
Rank  above  rank!    Millions  on  millions!   And  all  on  our 
side  if  v^e  will  have  them. 

THEY  ARE  MINISTERING  SPIRITS. 

This  leads  me  to  speak  of  the  offices  of  these  supernals. 
To  defend,  to  cheer,  to  rescue,  to  escort,  to  give  victory 
to  the  right,  and  overthrow  the  wrong;  that  is  their 
business.  Just  as  alert  to-day  and  efficient  as  when  in 
Bible  times  they  spread  wing,  or  unsheathed  sword,  or 
rocked  down  penitentiaries,  or  filled  the  mountains  with 
horses  of  fire  hitched  to  chariots  of  fire  and  driven  by 
reinsmen  of  fire.  They  have  turned  your  steps  a  hun- 
dred times,  and  you  knew  it  not.  You  were  on  the  way 
to  do  some  wrong  thing,  and  they  changed  your  course. 
They  brought  some  thought  of  Christian  parentage,  or 
of  loyalty  to  your  own  home,  and  that  arrested  you. 
They  arranged  that  some  one  should  meet  you  at  that 
crisis,  and  propose  something  honorable  and  elevating, 
or  they  took  from  your  pocket  some  ticket  to  evil  amuse- 
ment,, a  ticket  that  you  never  found.  It  was  an  angel 
of  God,  and  perhaps  the  very  one  that  now  waits  to  re- 
port some  holy  impression  to  be  this  mornig  made  upon 
your  soul,  tarrying  with  one  foot  upon  the  doorstep  of 
your  immortal  spirit,  and  the  other  foot  lifted  for  ascent 
into  the  skies.  By  some  prayer  detain  him  until  he  can 
tell  of  a  repentant  and  ransomed  soul!  Or  you  were 
some  time  borne  down  with  trouble,  bereavement,  per- 
secution, bankruptcy,  sickness,  and  all  manner  of 
troubles  beating  their  discords  in  your  heart  and  life. 
You  gave  up;  you  said:  *'I  cannot  stand  it  any  longer. 
I  believe  I  will  take  my  life.    Where  is  the  rail  train,  or 


ANGELOLOGY. 


293 


the  deep  wave,  or  the  precipice  that  will  end  this  tor- 
ment of  earthly  existence?'*  But  suddenly  your  mind 
brightened.  Courage  came  surging  into  your  heart  like 
oceanic  tides.  You  said:  ^'God  is  on  mj  side,  and  all 
these  adversities  he  can  make  turn  out  for  my  good." 
Suddenly  you  felt  a  peace,  a  deep  peace,  the  peace  of 
God  that  passeth  all  understanding.  What  made  the 
change?  A  sweet,  and  might^^,  and  comforting  angel  of 
the  Lord  met  you.    That  was  all. 

What  an  incentive  to  purity  and  righteousness  is  this 
doctrine  that  we  are  continually  under  angeHc  observa- 
tion !  Eyes  ever  on  you,  so  that  the  most  secret  mis- 
deed is  committed  in  the  midst  of  an  audience  of  immor- 
tals. No  door  so  bolted,  no  darkness  so  Cimmerian  as 
to  hinder  that  supernal  eyesight.  Not  critical  eyesight, 
not  jealous  eyesight, not  baleful  eyesight,  but  friendly 
eyesight,  sympathetic  eyesight,  helpful  eyesight.  Con- 
fidential clerk  in  store,  with  great  responsibility  on  your 
shoulder,  and  no  one  to  applaud  your  work  when  you 
do  it  well,  and  sick  with  the  world's  ingratitude,  think 
of  the  angels  in  the  counting  room  raptured  at  your  fi- 
delity !  Mother  of  household,  stitching,  mending,  cook- 
ing, dusting,  planning,  up  half  the  night  or  all  night 
with  a  sick  child,  day  in  and  day  out,  year  in  and  year 
out,  worn  with  themonotony  of  a  life  that  no  one  seems 
to  care  for,  think  of  the  angels  in  the  nursery,  angels  in 
all  the  rooms  of  your  toiling,  angels  about  the  sick  cra- 
dle, and  all  in  sympathy ! 

ANGELS  GUARD  YOU. 

Railroad  engineer,  with  hundreds  of  lives  hanging  on 
your  wrist,  standing  amid  the  cinders  and  the  smutch, 
round  the  sharp  curve  and  by  appalling  declivity,  dis- 
charged and  disgraced  if  you  make  a  mistake,  but  not 


294 


TALMA GE'S  sermons. 


one  word  of  approval  if  you  take  all  the  trains  in  safety 
for  ten  years,  think  of  the  angels  by  the  throttle  valve, 
angels  by  the  roaring  furnace  of  the  engine,  angels  look- 
ing from  the  overhanging  crag,  angels  bracing  the  rac- 
ing wheels  off  the  precipice,  angels  when  you  mount  the 
thunderbolt  of  a  train  and  angels  when  you  dismount ! 
Can  you  not  hear  them,  louder  than  the  jamming  of  the 
car  coupling,  louder  than  the  bell  at  the  crossing,  louder 
than  the  whistle  that  sounds  like  the  scream  of  a  flying 
fiend,  the  angelic  voices  saying:  You  did  it  well;  You 
did  it  well/'  If  I  often  speak  of  engineers,  it  is  because  I 
ride  so  much  with  them.  I  always  accept  their  invita- 
tion to  join  them  on  their  locomotive,  because,  I  not 
only  get  to  my  destination  sooner,  but  because  they  are 
about  the  grandest  men  alive. 

Men  and  women  of  all  circumstances,  only  partly  ap- 
preciated, ornotat  all,  never  feel  lonely  again,  or  unregar- 
ded again !  Angels  all  around:  angels  to  approve,  angels 
to  help,  angels  to  remember.  Yea,  while  all  the  good 
angels  are  friends  of  the  good,  there  is  one  special  angel 
— your  body  guard.  This  idea,  until  this  present  study 
of  angelology,  I  supposed  to  be  fanciful,  but  I  find  it 
clearly  stated  in  the  Bible.  When  the  diciples  were 
praying  for  Peter's  deliverance  from  prison,  and  he  ap- 
peared at  the  door  of  the  prayer  meeting,  they  could 
not  believe  it  was  Peter.  They  said:  It  is  his  angel/' 
So  these  diciples  in  special  nearness  to  Christ,  evidently 
believed  that  every  worthy  soul  has  an  angel.  Jesus 
said  of  his  followers:  Their  angels  behold  the  face  of 
my  Father.''  Elsewhere  it  is  said:  **  He  shall  give  his  angels 
charge  over  thee,  to  keep  thee  in  all  thy  ways."  Angel 
shielded,  angel  protected,  angel, guarded,  angel  canopied, 
art  thou.  No  wonder  that  Charles  Wesley  hymned 
these  word^; 


ANGELOLOGY. 


295 


Which  of  the  petty  kings  of  earth 

Can  boast  a  guard  like  ours, 
Encircled  from  our  second  birth 

With  all  the  heavenly  powers? 

Valerius  and  Rufiniis  were  put  to  death  for  Christ's 
sake  in  the  year  287,  and,  after  the  day  when  their 
bodies  had  been  whipped  and  pounded  into  a  jell^s  in 
the  night  in  prison,  and  before  the  next  day  when  they 
were  to  be  executed,  they  both  thought  theysaw  angels 
standing  with  two  glittering  crowns  saying:  ''Be  of 
good  cheer,  valiant  soldiers  of  Jesus  Christ!  a  little  more 
of  battle  and  then  these  crowns  are  yours."  And  I  am 
glad  to  know  that  before  many  of  those  who  have  pass- 
ed through  great  sufferings  in  this  life,  some  angel  of 
God  has  held  a  blazing  coronet  of  eternal  reward. 

Yea,  we  are  to  have  such  a  guardian  angel  to  take 
us  upward  when  our  work  is  done.  You  know  we  are 
told  an  angel  conducted  Lazarus  to  Abraham's  bosom. 
That  shows  that  none  shall  be  so  poor  in  dying,  he 
cannot  afford  angelic  escort.  It  would  be  a  long  way 
to  go  alone,  and  up  paths  we  have  never  trod,  and 
amid  blazing  v/orlds  swinging  in  unimaginable  momen- 
tum, out  and  on  through  such  distances  and  across  such 
infinitudes  of  space,  we  should  shudder  at  the  thought 
of  going  alone.  But  the  angelic  escort  will  come  to 
your  languishing  pillow,  or  the  place  of  your  fatal  acci- 
dent and  say :  ''  Hail,  immortal !  All  is  well?  God  hath 
sent  me  to  take  you  home;"  and  without  tremor  or 
slightest  sense  of  peril  you  will  away  and  upward,  fur- 
ther on  and  further  on,  until  after  awhile  heaven  heaves 
in  sight,  and  the  rumble  of  chariot  wheels  and  the  roll 
of  mighty  harmonies  are  heard  in  the  distance,  and 
nearer  you  come,  and  nearer  still,  until  the  brightness  is 
like  many  mornings  suffused  into  one,  and  the  gates  lift 
and  jou  are  inside  the  amethystine  walls,  and  on  the 


296 


TALMAGE^S  SERMONS. 


banks  of  the  jasper  sea,  forever  safe,  forever  free, 
forever  v^ell,  forever  rested,  forever  united,  forever  hap- 
py. Mothers,  don't  think  your  Httle  children  go  alone 
v^hen  they  quit  this  world.  Out  of  your  arms  into  an- 
gelic arms.  Out  of  sickness  into  health.  Out  of  the  cra- 
dle into  the  Saviour's  bosom.  Not  an  instant  will  the 
darlings  be  alone  between  the  two  kisses,  the  last  kiss 
of  earth  and  the  first  kiss  of  heaven.  ''Now,  angels,  do 
your  work!"  cried  an  expiring  Christian. 

Yes,  a  guardian  angel  for  each  one  of  you.  Put 
yourself  now  in  accord  with  him.  When  he  suggests 
the  right,  follow  it,  When  he  warns  you  against  the 
wrong,  shun  it.  Sent  forth  from  God  to  help  you  in 
this  great  battle  against  sin  and  death,  accept  his  de- 
liverance. When  tempted  to  a  feeling  of  loneliness  and 
disheartenment,  appropriate  the  promise:  ''The  angel 
of  the  Lord  encampeth  around  about  them  that  fear 
Him  and  delivereth  them.''  "Oh,  I  am  so  glad  that  the 
spaces  between  here  and  heaven  arethronged  with  these 
supernaturals,  taking  tidings  home,  bringing  messages 
here,  rolling  back  obstacles  from  our  path,  and  giving 
us  defense,  for  terrific  are  the  forces  who  dispute  our 
way,  and  if  the  nation  of  the  good  angels  is  on  our 
side,  the  nation  of  bad  angels  is  on  the  other  side.  Paul 
had  it  right  when  he  said:  "We  wrestle  not  against 
flesh  and  blood,  but  against  Principalities,  against 
Powers,  against  the  rulers  of  the  darkness  of  this 
world,  against  spiritual  wickedness  in  high  places."  In 
that  awful  fight  may  God  send  us  mighty  angelic  re-en- 
forcement !  We  want  all  their  wings  on  our  side,  all 
their  swords  on  our  side,  all  their  chariots  on  our  side. 

Thank  God  that  those  who  are  for  us  are  mightier 
than  those  who  are  against  us !  And  that  thought 
makes  me  jubilant  as  to  the  final  triumph.  Belguim, 


ANGELOLOGY. 


297 


YOU  know,  was  the  battle  ground  of  England  anrl 
France.  Yea,  Belguim  was  more  than  once  the  battle 
ground  of  opposing  nations.  It  so  happens  that  this 
world  is  the  Belgium  or  battle  ground  between  the 
angelic  nations,  good  and  bad.  Michael,  the  cor^- 
mander-in-chief  on  one  side;  Lucifer,  as  Byron  calls  li^  r  , 
Mephistopheles,  as  Goethe  calls  him,  or  Satan,  as  the 
Bible  calls  him,  the  commander-in-chief  on  the  other 
side.  All  pure  angelhood  under  the  one  leadership,  a.nd 
all  the  abandoned  a.ngelhood  under  the  other  leader- 
ship. 

Many  a  skirmish  haYC  the  two  armies  had;  but  the 
great  and  decisive  battle  is  yet  to  be  fought.  Either 
from  our  earthly  homes,  or  dowm  from  our  supernal 
residences,  may  we  come  in  on  the  right  side;  for  on 
that  side  are  God  and  heaven  and  victory.  Meanwhile 
the  battle  is  being  set  in  array,  and  the  forces  celestial 
and  demonical  are  confronting  each  other.  Hear  the 
boom  of  the  great  cannonade  already  opened !  Cheru- 
bim, Seraphim,  Thrones,  Dominations,  Principalties 
and  Powers  are  beginning  to  ride  down  their  foes,  and 
imtil  the  work  is  completed,  ''Sun,  stand  thou  still 
upon  Gibeon,  and  thou.  Moon,  in  the  valley  of  Ajalon." 


( 


5  DEM  LION.  ' 


[Delivered  in  Brooklyn,  N.  Y.,  March  30,  1889.] 
living  dog  is  better  than  a  dead  liony   Eccles.  /x,  4. 


fgr^/HE  Bible  is  the  strangest,  the  loveHest,  the  might- 


^iest,  the  weirdest,  the  best  of  books.  Written  by 
Moses  the  lawyer,  Joshua  the  soldier,  Samuel  the 
judge,  Ezra  the  builder.  Job  the  poet,  David  the  shep- 
herd, Daniel  the  prime  minister,  Amps  the  herdsman, 
Matthew  the  custom  house  officer,  Luke  the  doctor, 
Paul  the  scholar,  John  the  exile;  and  yet  a  complete  har- 
mony from  the  middle  verse  of  the  1 1 7th  psalm ,  bo  th  ways 
to  the  upper  and  lower  lids,  and  from  the  shortest  pas- 
sage, which  is  the  thirty-fifth  verse  of  the  eleventh  chap- 
ter of  John,  to  the  longest  verse,  which  is  the  ninth 
verse  of  the  eighth  chapter  of  Esther,  and  3^et  not  an 
imperfection  in  all  the  773,693  words  which  it  is  com- 
posed of.  It  not,  only  reaches  over  the  past,  but  over 
the  future;  has  in  it  a  ferryboat,  as  in  second  Samuel, 
and  a  telegraphic  wire,  as  in  Job,  and  a  railroad  train, 
as  \n  Nahum,  and  introduces  us  to  a  foundr^^man  by 
the  name  of  Tubal  Cain,  and  a  shipbuilder  by  the  name 

(299) 


SCO 


l^ALMAGE^S  SERMONS. 


of  Noah,  aud  an  architect  hy  the  name  of  Aholiab,  and 
tells  us  how  many  stables  Solomon  had  to  take  care  of 
his  horses,  and  how  much  he  paid  for  those  horses. 
But  few  things  in  this  versatile  and  comprehensive 
book,  interest  me  so  much  as  its  apothegms;  those  short, 
terse,  sententious  epigrammatic  sayings,  of  which  my 
text  is  one,  ''A  living  dog  is  better  than  a  dead  lion.'' 

Here  the  lion  stands  for  nobility,  and  the  dog  for 
meanness.  You  must  know  that  the  dog  mentioned  in 
the  text  is  not  one  of  our  American,  or  European,  or 
Scottish  dogs,  that,  in  our  mind,  is  a  synonym  for  the 
beautiful,  the  graceful,  the  affectionate,  the  sagacious, 
and  the  true.  The  St.  Bernard  dog  is  a  hero,  and  if  you 
doubt  it,  ask  the  snows  of  the  Alps,  out  of  which  he 
picked  the  exhausted  traveler.  The  shepherd  dog  is  a 
poem,  and  if  you  doubt  it,  ask  the  highlands  of  Scotland. 
The  Artie  dog  is  the  rescue  of  explorers  and  if  you  doubt 
it,  ask  Dr.  Kane's  expedition.  The  watch  dog  is  a  liv- 
ing protection,  and  if  you  doubt  it,  ask  ten  thousand 
homesteads  over  whose  safety  he  watched  last  night. 
But  Solomon,  the  author  of  my  text,  lived  in  Jerusalem. 

As  most  of  the  Bible  was  written  in  regions  lion- 
haunted,  this  creature  appears  in  almost  all  parts  of  the 
Bible  as  a  simile.  David  understood  its  habits  ofniglit- 
prowling  and  day  slumbering,  as  is  seen  from  his  de- 
scription :  "The  young  lions  roar  after  their  prey  and 
seek  their  meat  from  God.  The  sun  ariseth  they  gather 
themselves  together,  and  lay  them  down  in  their  dens.'^ 
And  again  he  cries  out:  "My  soul  is  among  lions. '^ 
Moses  knew  them  and  said  "Judah  is  couched  like  a 
lion.'^  Sampson  knew  them,  for  he  took  honey  from  the 
carcass  of  a  slain  lion,  Solomon  knew  them,  and  says, 
"the  king's  wrath  is  as  the  roar  of  a  lion,"  and  again, 
"the  slothful  man  says  there  is  a  lion  in  the  way." 


A  DEAD  LION. 


301 


Isaiah  knew  them,  and  says,  in  the  millennium,  ''the 
lion  shall  eat  straw  like  an  ox."  Ezekiel  knew  them, 
and  says,  ''the  third  was  the  face  of  a  lion."  Paul  knew 
them ,  and  s  ays , '  I  was  delivered  out  of  the  mouth  of  a  lion . ' 
Peter  knew  them,  and  says,  "the  devil  as  a  roaring  lion 
walketh  about."  St.  John  knew  them,  and  says  of 
Christ,  ''behold  the  lion  of  the  tribe  of  Judah!" 

SMALL  FACULTIES-GREAT  FACULTIES. 

Now,  what  does  my  text  mean  when  it  puts  a  living 
dog  and  a  dead  lion  side  by  side,  and  says  the  former 
is  better  than  the  latter  ?  It  means  that  small  faculties 
actively  used  are  of  more  value  than  great  faculties  un- 
employed. How  often  you  see  it!  Some  man  with 
limited  capacity  vastly  useful.  He  takes  that  which 
God  has  given  him  and  says:  "My  mental  endowment 
is  not  large  and  the  world  would  not  rate  me  high  for 
my  intelligence,  and  my  vocabulry  is  limited,  and  my 
education  was  defective,  but  here  goes  what  I  have  for 
God  and  salvation,  and  the  making  of  the  world  good 
and  happy."  He  puts  in  a  word  here  and  a  word 
there,  encourages  a  faint  hearted  man,  gives  a  scripture 
passage  in  consolation  to  some  bereft  woman,  picks  up 
a  child  fallen  in  the  street  and  helps  him  brush  off  the 
dust  and  puts  a  five-cent  piece  in  his  hand  telling  him 
not  to  cry,  so  that  the  boy  is  singing  before  he  gets 
round  the  corner;  waiting  on  everybody  that  has  a  let- 
ter to  carry  or  a  message  to  deliver;  comes  into  a  rail 
train,  or  stage  coach,  or  depot,  or  shop,  with  a  smiling 
face  that  sets  everybody  to  thinking.  "If  that  man  can, 
with  what  appears  small  equipment  in  life,  be  happy, 
why  cannot  I,  possessing  far  more  than  he  has,  be 
equally  happy  ?"  One  day  of  that  kind  of  doing  things 
may  not  amount  to  much,  but  forty  years  of  that — no 
one  but  God  himself  can  appreciate  its  immensity. 


302 


talmage's  sermons. 


There  are  tens  of  thotisands  of  such  people.  Their 
circle  of  acquaintances  is  small.  He  is  a  clerk,  or 
weigher,  or  drayman,  and  he  is  known  among  those 
who  sit  near  him  clear  back  in  the  church  under  the 
galleries,  and  at  the  ferry  gates  where  he  comes  in 
knocking  the  snow  from  his  shoes  and  threshing  his 
arms  around  his  body  to  revive  circulation  on  some 
January  morning.  But  if  he  should  die  to-morrow 
there  would  not  be  a  hundred  people  who  would  know 
about  it.  He  will  never  have  his  name  in  the  news- 
papers but  once,  and  that  will  be  the  announcement  of 
his  death,  if  some  one  will  pay  for  the  insertion  so  much 
a  line  for  the  two  lines.  But  he  will  come  up  gloriously 
on  the  other  side,  and  the  God  who  has  watched  him 
all  through  will  gill  give  him  a  higher  seat  and  a  better 
mansion  and,  a  grander  eternity  than  many  a  man  who 
had  on  earth,  before  his  name,  the  word  honorable,  and 
after  his  name  L.L.  D.  and  F.  R.  S.  Christ  saidin  Luke, 
the  sixth  chapter,  that  in  heaven  some  who  had 
it  hard  here  would  laugh  there.  And  I  think  a 
laugh  of  delight  and  congratulation  will  run 
around  the  heavenly  circles  when  this  one  of  whom 
I  spoke  shall  go  up  and  take  the  precedence  of  many 
Christians,  who  in  this  world  felt  themselves  to 
be  of  99  per  cent  more  importance.  The  whisper  will 
go  round  the  galleries  of  the  upper  temple:  "Can  it  be 
possible  that  that  was  the  weigher  in  our  store?''  "Can 
it  be  possible  that  that  was  the  car  driver  on  our 
street  "Can  it  be  possible  that  that  was  the  sexton 
of  our  church?"  "Can  it  be  possible  that  is  the  man 
that  heaved  coal  into  our  cellar?*'  ^'I  never  could  have 
thought  it.  What  a  reversal  of  things  !  We  were  clear 
ahead  of  him  on  earth,  but  he  is  clear  ahead  of  us  in 
heaven.   Why,  we  had  ten  times  more  brains  than  he 


A  DEAD  LION. 


303 


had,  we  had  a  thousand  times  more  money  than  he 
had,  we  had  social  position  a  mile  higher  than  he  had, 
we  had  innumerable  opportunities  more  than  he 
had,  but  it  seems  now  that  he  accomplished  more  with 
his  talent  than  we  did  with  our  ten;'^  while  Solomon, 
standing  among  the  thrones,  overhears  the  whisper, 
and  sees  the  wonderment  and  with,  benignant  and  all- 
suggestive  smile,  says:  "Yes.  it  is  as  I  told  the  world 
many  centuries  ago — ^better  is  small  faculty  actively 
used  than  great  talent  unemployed,  better  is  a  living 
dog  than  a  dead  lion." 

A  WORLD  FULL  OF  DEAD  LIONS. 

The  simple  fact  is  that  the  world  has  been,  and  the 
world  is  now,  full  of  dead  lions.  They  are  people  of 
great  capacity  and  large  opportunity,  doing  nothing 
for  the  improvement  of  society,  nothing  for  the  over- 
throw of  evil,  nothing  for  the  salvation  of  souls.  Some 
of  them  are  monetary  lions.  They  have  accumulated 
so  many  hundreds  of  thousands  of  dollars,  that  you  can 
feel  their  tread  when  they  walk  through  any  street  or 
come  into  any  circle.  They  can  by  one  financial  move 
upset  the  money  market.  Instead  of  10  per  cent,  of 
their  income  which  the  Bible  lays  down  as  the  proper 
proportion  of  their  contribution  to  the  cause  of  God, 
they  do  not  give  5  per  cent.,  or  3  per  cent.,  or  2  per  cent., 
or  V2  per  cent.,  or  V4,  per  cent.  That  they  are  lions,  no 
one  doubts.  When  they  roar.  Wall  street,  State  street, 
Lombard  Street,  and  the  bourse  tremble.  In  a  few 
years  they  will  lie  down  and  die.  They  will  have  a 
^eat  funeral  and  a  long  row  of  fine  carriages,  and 
mightiest  requiems  will  roll  from  the  organ,  and  polish- 
ed shaft  of  Aberdeen  granite  will  indicate  vv^liere  their 
dust  lies;  but  for  all  Uv^e  to  the  world  that  man  might  as 


304 


talmage's  sermons. 


well  have  never  lived.  As  an  experiment  as  to  how 
much  he  can  carry  with  him,  put  a  ten-cent  piece  in  the 
palm  of  his  dead  hand,  and  five  years  after  open  the 
tomb,  and  you  will  find  that  he  has  dropped  even  the 
ten-cent  piece.  A  lion !  Yes,  but  a  dead  lion !  He  left  all 
his  treasures  on  earth,  and  has  no  treasures  in  heaven. 
What  shall  the  stone-cutter  put  upon  the  the  obelisk 
over  him?  I  suggest,  let  it  be  the  man^s  name,  then  the 
time  of  his  birth,  then  the  date  of  his  death,  then  the 
appropriate  scripture  passage,  '^Better  is  a  living  dog 
than  a  dead  lion.''  But  I  thank  God  that  we  are  hav- 
ing just  now  an  outburst  of  splendid  beneficence  that  is 
to  increase  until  the  earth  is  girdled  with  it.  It  is 
spreading  with  the  speed  of  an  epidemic,  but  with  just 
the  opposite  effect  of  an  epidemic. 

LIVING  PHILANTHROPISTS. 

Do  you  not  all,  most  gladly  notice  how  wealthy 
men  are  opening  free  libraries,  and  building  free  churches 
in  their  native  village  ?  Have  you  not  seen  how  men  of 
large  means,  instead  of  leaving  great  philanthropies  in 
their  wills  for  disappointed  heirs  to  quarrel  about,  and 
the  orphan  courts  to  swamp,  are  becoming  their  own 
executors  and  administrators?  After  putting  aside 
enough  for  their  families  (for  he  that  provideth  not 
for  his  own,  and  especially  those  of  his  own  household, 
is  worse  than  an  infidel they  are  saying :  What  can 
I  do,  not  after  I  am  dead  but  while  living  and  in  full 
possession  of  my  faculties,  to  properly  direct  the  build-, 
ing  of  the  churches,  or  the  hospitals  or  the  colleges  or 
the  libraries  that  I  design  for  the  public  welfare  and 
while  yet  I  have  full  capacity  to  enjoy  the  satisfaction 
of  seeing  the  good  accomplished?"  There  are  bad 
in sh ions  and  good  faslrioiis,  and.  whether  good  or  bad^ 


$06 


talmage's  sermons. 


fashions  are  mighty.  One  of  the  good  fashions  now 
starting  will  sweep  the  earth — the  fashion  of  wealthy 
men  to  distribute,  while  yet  alive,  their  surplus  accum- 
alation. 

And  this  grand  distribution  is  being  helped  by  the 
fact  that  so  many  large  estates  have,  immediately  after 
the  testator's  death,  gone  into  litigation.  Attorneys 
with  large  fees  are  employed  on  both  sides  and  the  case 
goes  on  month  after  month  and  year  after  year  and 
after  one  court  decides  it  ascends  to  another  court;  and 
is  decided  in  the  opposite  direction;  and  then  new  evi- 
dence is  found  and  the  trials  are  all  repeated.  The  chil- 
dren who  at  the  father's  funeral  seemed  to  have  an  un- 
controllable grief,  after  the  will  is  read  go  into  elabor- 
ate process  to  prove  that  the  father  was  crazy  and 
therefore  incompetent  to  make  a  will;  and  there  are  men  on 
the  jury  who  think  that  the  fact  that  the  testator  gave 
so  much  of  his  money  to  the  Bible  society,  and  the  mis- 
sionary society,  or  the  opening  of  a  free  library  is  proof 
positive  that  he  was  insane,  and  that  he  knew  not  what 
he  was  signing  when  he  subscribed  to  the  words  :  '4nthe 
name  of  God  amen.  I  being  of  sound  mind  do  make 
this  my  last  will  and  testament.'' 

The  torn  wills,  the  fraudulent  wills,  the  broken  wills 
have  recently  been  made  such  a  spectacle  to  angels  and 
to  men  that  all  over  the  land  successful  men  are  calling 
in  architects  and  saying  to  them :  *'How  much  would  it 
cost  for  me  to  build  a  picture-gallery  for  our  town?" 
or  ''What  plans  can  you  draw  me  out  for  a  concert 
hall?"  or  "I  am  specially  interested  in  the  incurables 
and  how  large  a  building  would  accommodate  300  of 
such  patients?"  or  'The  Church  of  God  has  been  a' 
great  help  to  me  all  my  life,  and  1  want  you  to  draw 
me  a  plan  of  a  church,  commodious^  beautiful,  well 


A  DEAD  LION. 


307 


ventilated,  and  with  plenty  of  windoWvS  to  let  in  the 
l^ght;  I  want  you  to  get  right  at  work  in  making  out 
plans  of  such  a  building,  for,  though  I  am  well  now, 
life  is  uncertain,  and  before  I  leave  the  world  I  want  to 
see  something  done  that  will  be  an  appropriate  ac- 
knowledgement of  the  goodness  of  God  to  me  and  mine: 
now  when  can  I  hear  from  you?" 

Who  would  attempt  to  write  the  obituary  of  the 
dead  lions  of  commerce,  the  dead  lions  of  law,  the 
dead  lions  of  medicine,  the  dead  lions  of  social  influence? 
Vast  capacity  had  they,  and  mighty  range,  and  other 
men  in  their  presence  were  as  powerless  as  the  antelope 
or  heifer  or  giraffe  when  from  the  jungle  a  Numidian 
Hon  springs  upon  its  prey.  But  they  get  through  with 
life.  They  lie  down  in  their  magnificent  lair.  They 
have  made  their  last  sharp  bargain.  They  have  spoken 
their  last  hard  word.  They  have  committed  their  last 
mean  act.  When  a  tawny  inhabitant  of  the  desert  rolls 
over  helpless  the  lioness  and  whelps  fill  the  air  with 
shrieks  and  howls  and  lash  themselves  into  lamenta- 
tions, and  it  is  a  genuine  grief  for  the  poor  things. 
When  this  dead  lion  of  monstrous  uselessness  expires 
there  is  nothing  but  dramatized  woe,,  for  '^Better  is  a 
live  dog  than  a  dead  lion,*^ 

My  text  also  means  that  an  opportunity  of  the 
living  present  is  better  than  a  great  opportunity 
passed.  We  spend  much  of  our  time  in  saying:  "If  I 
only  had."  We  can  all  look  back  and  see  some  occasion 
where  we  might  have  done  a  great  deed,  or  might  have 
effected  an  important  rescue,  or  we  might  have  dealt  a 
stroke  that  would  have  accomplished  a  vast  result. 
Through  stupidity  or  lack  of  appreciation  of  the  crisis, 
or  through  procrastination  we  let  the  chance  go  by. 
How  much  time  we  have  wasted  in  thinking  of  what 


308 


TALMAGE'S  SERMONS. 


we  might  have  said  or  might  have  done !  We  spend 
hours  and  days  and  years  in  walking  around  that  dead 
lion.  We  cannot  resuscitate  it.  It  will  never  open  its 
eyes  again.  There  will  never  be  another  spring  in  its 
paw.  Dead  as  any  feline  terror  of  South  Africa, 
through  whose  heart  30  years  ago  Gordon  Cummin 
sent  the  slug.  Don^t  let  us  give  more  time  to  the  de- 
ploring of  the  dead  past.  There  are  other  opportuni- 
ties remaining.  They  may  not  be  as  great,  but  they 
are  worth  our  attention.  Small  opportunities  all 
around — opportunities  for  the  saying  of  kind  words 
and  doing  of  kind  deeds.  Helplessness  to  be  helped, 
disheartened  ones  to  be  encouraged,  lost  ones  to  be 
found.  Though  the  present  may  be  insignificent  as 
compared  with  the  past.  ^'Better  is  a  living  dog  than 
a  dead  lion.^' 

CHANCES  GONE—CHANCES  TO  COME. 

My  text  also  means  that  the  condition  of  the  most 
wretched  man  alive  is  better  than  that  of  the  most  fa- 
vored sinners  departed.  The  chance  of  these  last  is 
gone.  Where  they  are  they  cannot  make  any  earthly 
assets  available.  After  Charlemagne  was  dead  he  was 
set  in  an  ornamental  sepulcher  on  a  golden  throne, 
and  a  crown  was  put  on  his  cold  brow,  and  a  scepter 
in  his  stiff  hand,  but  that  gave  him  no  dominion  in  the 
next  world.  One  of  the  most  intensely  interesting 
things  I  saw  last  winter  in  Egypt  was  Pharaoh  of 
olden  times,  the  very  Pharaoh  who  oppressed  the 
Israelites.  The  inscription  on  his  sarcophagus  and  the 
writing  on  his  mummy  bandages  prove  beyond  contro- 
versy that  he  was  the  Pharaoh  of  Bible  times.  All  the 
Egyptologists  and  the  explorations  agree  that  it  is  the 
old  scoundrel  himself.   Visible  are  the  very  teeth  with 


A  DEAD  LION. 


309 


which  he  gnashed  against  the  Israehtish  brick-makers. 
There  are  the  sockets  of  the  merciless  eyes  with  which 
he  looked  upon  the  overburdened  people  of  God.  There 
is  the  hair  that  floated  in  the  breeze  off  the  Red  Sea. 
There  are  the  very  lips  with  which  he  commanded  them 
to  make  bricks  without  straw.  Thousands  of  years 
afteirwards  when  the  wrappings  of  the  mummy  were 
unrolled,  old  Pharoah  lifted  up  his  arm  as  if  in  implora- 
tion,  but  his  skinny  bones  cannot  again  clutch  his  shat' 
tered  scepter.  He  is  a  dead  lion.  And  is  not  any  man 
now  living,  in  the  fact  that  he  has  opportunity  of  repent- 
ance aud  salvation,  better  off  than  any  of  those  de- 
parted ones  who,  by  authority  or  possessions  or  in- 
fluence, were  positively  leonine,  and  yet  wicked  ? 

What  a  thing  to  congratulate  you  on  is  your  life. 
Why,  it  is  worth  more  than  all  the  gems  of  the  universe 
kindled  into  one  precious  stone  ?  I  am  alive !  What 
does  that  mean  ?  Why  it  means  that  I  still  have  an  op- 
portunity of  being  saved  myself,  and  helping  others  to 
be  saved.  To  be  alive !  Why,  it  means  that  I  have  still 
another  chance  to  correct  my  past  mistakes,  and  make 
sure  work  for  heaven.  Alive  are  we?  Come  let  us 
celebrate  it  by  new  resolutions,  new  self-examination, 
new  consecration,  and  a  new  career.  The  smallest  and 
most  insignificant  to  day  is  worth  to  us  more  than 
five  hundred  yesterdays.  Taking  advantage  of  the 
present,  let  us  get  pardon  for  all  the  past,  and  security 
for  all  the  future.  Where  are  our  forgiven  sins  ?  I  don^t 
know.  God  doesn't  know,  either.  He  says:  *^Your 
sins  and  iniquities  will  I  remember  no  more.'' 


ES8TER  THOUGHTS. 


(Delivered  in  Brooklyta,  N.  Y.,  April  6.  1890.) 


^^And  the  £eld  of  Ephron,  which  was  in  Machpelah,  which  was 
before  Mamre,  the  field,  and  the  cave  which  was  therein ,  and  all  the 
trees  that  were  in  the  held,  that  were  in  all  the  borders  round  about, 
were  made  sure  unto  Abraham.^'    Gen.  xxiii,  17,  18. 


Jlivfji  ERE  is  the  first  cemetery  ever  laid  out.  Machpelah 


was  its  name.    It  was  an  arborescent  beanty, 


(^Jp^  where  the  wound  of  death  was  bandaged  with 
foliage.  Abraham,  a  rich  man,  not  being  able  to  bribe 
the  King  of  Terrors,  proposes  here,  as  far  as  possible,  to 
cover  up  the  ravages.  He  had  no  doubt  previously 
noticed  this  region,  and  now  that  Sarah  his  wife  had 
died — that  remarkable  person  who  at  ninety  years  of 
age  had  born  to  her  the  son  of  Isaac,  and  who  now, 
after  she  had  reached  one  hundred  and  twenty-seven 
years,  had  expired — Abraham  is  negotiating  for  a  family 
plot  for  her  last  slumber.  Ephron  owned  this  real  estate, 
and  after,  in  mock  sympathy  for  Abraham,  refusing  to 
take  anything  for  it,  now  sticks  on  a  big  price — four 
hundred  shelkels  of  silver-  The  cemetery  lot  is  paid  for, 
and  the  transfer  made,  in  the  presence  of  witnesses  in  a 


MACHPELAH. 


(311) 


312 


talmage's  sermons. 


public  place,  for  there  were  no  deeds  and  no  halls  of 
record  in  those  early  times.  Then  in  a  cavern  of  lime- 
stone rock  Abraham  put  Sarah,  and,  a  few  years  after, 
himself  followed,  and  then  Isaac  and  Rebekah,  and  then 
Jacob  and  Leah.  Embowered,  picturesque  and  memor- 
able Machpelah!  That  ^'God's  acre"  dedicated  by 
Abraham  has  been  the  mother  of  innumerable  mortuary 
observances.  The  necropolis  of  every  civilized  land  has 
vied  with  its  metropolis. 

RESTING  PLACES  OF  THE  DEAD. 

The  most  beautiful  hills  of  Europe  outside  the  great 
cities  are  covered  with  obelisk  and  funeral  vase  and 
arched  gateways  and  columns  and  parterres  in  honor 
of  the  inhumated.  The  Appian  Way  of  Rome  was 
bordered  by  sepulchral  commemorations.  For  this 
purpose  Pisa  has  its  arcades  of  marble  sculptured  into 
excellent  bas  reliefs,  and  the  feature  of  dear  faces  that 
have  vanished.  Genoa  has  its  terraces  cut  into  tombs; 
and  Constantinople  covers  with  cypress  the  silent  habi- 
tations; and  Paris  has  its  Pere-Lachaise,  on  whose 
heights  rest  Balzac  and  David  and  Marshal  Ney  and 
Ctivier  and  La  Place  and  Mollere,  and  a  mighty  group 
of  warriors  and  poets  and  painters  and  musicians.  In 
all  foreign  nations  utmost  genius  on  all  sides  is  expended 
in  the  work  of  interment,  mummification  and  incinera- 
tion. 

Our  own  country  consents  to  be  second  to  none  in 
respect  to  the  lifeless  body.  Every  city  and  town  and 
neighborhood  of  any  intelligence  or  virtue  has,  not  many 
miles  away,  its  sacred  inclosure,  where  affection  has  eii- 
ua;?:ed  sculptor's  chisel  and  florist's  spade  and  artificer 
ill  mctrils.   Our  own  city  has  vshown  its  religion,  as  well 

'     ?rt,  in  ili<:^  mnnrier  in  which  • '''r  fli^^Ql^Y 


EASTER  THOUGHTS. 


313 


of  those  who  have  passed  forever  away,  by  its  Cypress 
Hills,  and  its  Evergreens,  and  its  Calvary,  and  Holy 
Cross,  and  Friends'  cemeteries:  All  the  world  knows  of 
onr  Greenwood,  with  now  about  two  hundred  andfift}^ 
thousand  inhabitants  sleeping  among  the  hills  that 
overlook  the  sea,  and  by  lakes  embosomed  in  an  Eden 
of  flowers,  our  American  Westminister  Abby,  an  Acrop- 
olis of  mortuary  architecture,*  a  Pantheon  of  mighty 
ones  ascended,  elegies  in  stone,  Iliads  in  marble,  whole 
generations  in  peace  waiting  for  other  generations  to 
join  them.  No  dormitory  of  breathles  sleepers  in  all  the 
world  has  so  many  mighty  dead. 

Among  preachers  of  the  gospel,  Bethune  and 
Thomas  DeWitt,  and  Bishop  Janes  and  Tyng,  and 
Abeel  the  missionary,  and  Beecher  and  Buddington,  and 
McClintock  and  Inskip,  and  Bangs  and  Chapin,  and 
Noah  Schenck  and  Samuel  Hanson  Cox.  Among 
musicians,  the  renowned  Gottschalk  and  the  holy 
Thomas  Hastings.  Among  philanthropists,  Peter 
Cooper  and  Isaac  T.  Hopper,  and  Lucretia  Mott  and 
Isabella  Graham, '  and  Henry  Bergh,  the  apostle  of 
mercy  to  the  brute  creation.  Among  the  literati,  the 
Carys,  Alice  and  Phoebe;  James  K.  Paulding  and  John 
G.  Saxe.  Among  journalists,  Bennett  and  Raymond 
and  Greeley.  Among  scientists,  Ormsby  Mitchel,  war- 
rior as  well  as  astronomer,  and  lovingly  called  by  his 
soldiers  *^01d  Stars,''  the  Drapers,  splendid  men,  as  I 
well  know,  one  of  them  my  teacher,  the  other  my  class- 
mate. 

Among  inventors,  Elias  Howe,  who  through  the 
sewing  machine,  did  more  to  alleviate  the  toils  of  wo- 
nianhood  than  any  man  that  ever  lived,  and  Professor 
Morse,  who  gave  us  magnetic  telegraph3^;  the  former 
doing  his  work  with  the  needle,  the  latter  with  the 


TALMAGE^S  SERMON^. 


thunderbolt.  Among  physicians  and  surgeons,  Joseph 
C.  Hutchinson,  and  Marion  Sims,  and  Dr.  Valentine 
Mott,  with  the  following  epitaph  which  he  ordered  cut 
in  honor  of  the  Christian  religion:  ^^My  implicit  faith 
and  hope  is  in  a  merciful  Redeemer,  who  is  the  resurrec- 
tion and  the  life.  Amen  and  amen/^  This  is  our 
American  Machpelah,  as  sacred  to  us  as  the  Machphelah 
in  Canaan,  of  which  Jacob  uttered  that  pastoral  poem 
in  one  verse:  There  they  buried  Abraham,  and  Sarah 
his  wife;  there  they  buried  Isaac»  and  Rebekah  his  wife, 
and  there  I  buried  Leah.'' 

At  this  Easter  service  I  ask  and  answer  what  may 
seem  a  novel  question,  but  it  will  be  found,  before  I  get 
through,  a  practical  and  useful  and  tremendous  ques- 
tion: What  will  resurrection  day  do  for  the  cemeteries  ? 
First,  I  remark,  it  will  be  their  supernal  beautification. 
At  certain  seasons  it  is  customary  in  all  lands  to  strew 
flowers  over  the  mounds. of  the  departed.  It  may  have 
been  suggested  by  the  fact  that  Christ's  tomb  was  in  a 
garden.  And  when  I  say  garden  I  do  not  mean  a 
garden  of  these  latitudes.  The  late  frosts  of  spring 
and  the  early  frosts  of  autumn  are  so  near  each  other 
that  there  are  only  a  few  months  of  flowers  in  the  field. 
All  the  flowers  we  see  to-day  had  to  be  petted  and 
coaxed  and  put  under  shelter,  or  they  would  not  have 
bloomed  at  all.  They  are  the  children  of  the  conserva- 
tories. But  at  this  season  and  through  the  most  of 
the  year  the  Holy  Land  is  all  ablush  with  floral  opu- 
lence. 

You  find  all  the  royal  family  of  flowers  there,  some 
that  you  supposed  indigenous  to  the  far  north,  and 
others  indigenous  to  the  far  south — the  daisy  and  hya- 
cinth, crocus  and  anemone,  tulip  and  water  lily,  gera- 
nium and  ranunculus,  mignonette  and  sweet  marjoram. 


EASETR  THOUGHTS. 


315 


In  the  college  at  Beyrout  you  may  see  Dr.  Post^s  collec- 
tion of  about  eighteen  hundred  kinds  of  Holy  Land 
flowers;  while  among  trees  are  the  oaks  of  frozen 
climes,  and  the  tamarisk  of  the  tropics,  walnut  and 
willow,  ivy  and  hawthorne,  ash  and  elder,  pine  and 
sycamore.  If  such  floral  and  botanical  beauties  are 
the  wild  growths  of  the  fields,  think  of  what  a  garden 
must  be  in  Palestine!  And  in  such  a  garden  Jesus 
Christ  slept  after,  on  the  soldier,s  spear,  his  last  drop 
of  blood  had  coagulated.  And  then  see  how  appropri- 
ate that  all  our  cemeteries  should  be  floralized  and  tree 
shaded.   In  June,  Greenwood  is  Brooklyn's  garden. 

''Well,  then,'' you  say,  ''how  can  you  make  out 
that  the  Resurrection  day  will  beautify  the  cemeteries  ? 
Will  it  not  leave  them  a  plowed  up  ground?  On  that 
day  there  will  be  an  earthquake,  and  will  not  this  split 
the  polished  Aberdeen  granite,  as  well  as  the  plain  slab 
that  can  afford  but  the  two  words,  'Our  Mary,'  or 
'Our  Charley  ?' "  Well,  I  will  tell  you  how  Resurrec- 
tion day  will  beautify  all  the  cemeteries.  It  will  be  by 
bringing  up  the  faces  that  were  to  us  once,  and  in  our 
memories  are  to  us  now,  more  beautiful  than  any  calla 
lily,  and  the  forms  that  are  to  us  more  graceful  than 
any  willow  by  the  waters.  Can  you  think  of  anything 
more  beautiful  than  the  reappearance  of  those  from 
whom  we  have  been  parted  ?  I  do  not  care  which  way 
the  tree  falls  in  the  blast  of  the  Judgment  hurricane,  or 
if  the  plowshare  that  day  shall  turn  under  the  last  rose 
leaf  and  the  last  china  aster,  if  out  of  the  broken  sod 
shall  come  the  bodies  of  our  loved  ones  not  damaged, 
but  irradiated. 

/  The  idea  of  the  resurection  gets  easier  to  understand 
as  I  hear  the  phonograph  unroll  some  voice  that  talked 
into  it  a  year  ago,  just  before  our  friend's  decease.  You 


316 


talmage's  sermons. 


turn  the  wire,  and  then  come  forth  the  very  tones,  the 
very  song  of  the  person  that  breathed  into  it  once,  but 
is  now  departed.  If  amancan  do  that,  cannot  Almighty 
God,  without  half  trying,  return  the  voice  of  your  de- 
parted? And  if  He  can  return  the  voice,  why  not  the 
lips  and  the  tongue  and  the  throat  that  fashioned  the 
voice?  And  if  the  lips  and  the  tongue  and  the  throat, 
why  not  then  the  brain  that  suggested  the  words?  And 
if  the  brain,  why  not  the  nerves,  of  which  the  brain  is 
the  headquarters?  And  if  He  can  return  the  nerves,  why 
not  the  muscles,  which  are  less  ingenious?  And  if  the 
muscles,  why  not  the  bones,  that  are  less  wonderful? 
And  if  the  voice  and  the  brain  and  the  muscles  and  the 
bones,  why  not  the  entire  body?  If  man  can  do  the 
phonograph,  God  can  do  the  resurrection.  Will  it  be 
the  same  body  that  in  the  last  day  shall  be  reanimated? 
Yes,  but  infinitely  improved. 

Our  bodies  change  every  seven  years,  and  yet,  in  one 
sense,  it  is  the  same  body.  On  my  wrist  and  the  second 
finger  of  my  right  hand  there  is  a  scar.  I  made  that  at 
twelve  years  of  age,  when,  disgusted  at  the  presence  of 
two  warts,  I  took  a  red  hot  iron  and  burned  them  off  and 
burned  them  out.  Since  then  my  body  has  changed  at 
least  a  half  dozen  times,  but  those  scars  prove  it  is  the 
same  body.  And  we  never  lose  our  indentity.  If  God 
can  and  does  sometimes  rebuild  a  man  five,  six,  ten 
times,  in  this  world,  is  it  mysterious  that  Hecan  rebuild 
him  once  more,  and  that  in  the  resurrection?  If  Hecan 
do  it  ten  times,  I  think  He  can  do  it  eleven  times.  Then 
look  at  the  seventeen  year  locusts.  For  seventeen  years 
gone,  at  the  end  of  seventeen  years  they  appear,  and  by 
rubbing  the  hind  leg  against  the  wing  make  that  rattle 
at  which  all  the  husbandmen  and  vine  dressers  tremble 
as  the  insectile  host  takes  up  the  march  of  devastation, 


EASTER  THOUGHTS. 


317 


Resurrection  every  seventeen  years,  a  wonderful  fact! 

THE  GOSPEL  ALGEBRA. 

Another  consideration  makes  the  idea  of  resurrec- 
tion easier.  GodmadeAdam.  He  was  not  fashioned  after 
any  model.  There  had  never  been  a  human  organism, 
and  so  there  was  nothing  to  copy.  At  the  first  attemjot 
God  made  a  perfect  man.  He  made  him  out  of  the  dust 
of  the  earth.  If  out  of  ordinary  dust  of  the  earth  and 
without  a  model  God  could  make  a  perfect  man,  surely 
out  of  the  extraordinary  dust  of  the  mortal  body,  and 
with  millions  of  models,  God  can  make  each  one  of  us  a 
perfect  being  in  the  resurrection.  Surely  the  last  under- 
taking would  not  be  greater  than  the  first.  See  the 
gospel  algebra;  ordinary  dust  minus  a  model  equals  a 
perfect  man;  extraordinary  dust  and.  plus  a  model  equals 
a  ressurrection  body.  Mysteries  about  it?  Oh,  yes; 
that  is  one  reason  why  I  believe  it.  It  would  not  be 
much  of  a  God  who  could  do  things  only  as  far  as  lean 
understand.  Mysteries?  Oh,  yes;  but  no  more  about 
the  resurrection  of  your  body  than  about  its  present 
existence. 

I  will  explain  to  you  the  last  mystery  of  the  resur- 
rection, and  make  it  as  plain  to  you  as  that  two  and 
two  make  four,  if  you  will  tell  me  how  your  mind,  which 
is  entirely  independent  of  your  body,  can  act  upon  your 
body  so  that  at  your  will  your  eyes  open,  or  your  foot 
walks,  or  your  hand  is  extended.  So  I  find  nothing  in 
the  Bible  statement  concerning  the  resurrection  that 
staggers  me  for  a  moment.  All  doubts  clear  from  my 
mind.  I  say  that  the  cemeteries,  however  beautiful 
^now,  will  be  more  beautiful  when  the  bodies  of  our 
loved  once  come  up,  in  the  morning  of  the  resurrection, 


31§ 


ta^lmage's  sermons. 


They  will  come  in  improved  condition.  They  will 
come  up  rested.  The  most  of  them  lay  down  at  the  last 
very  tired.  How  often  you  have  heard  them  say,  "I 
am  so  tired!"  The  fact  is,  it  is  a  tired  world.  If  I  should 
go  through  this  audience,  and  go  round  the  world,  I 
could  not  find  a  person  in  any  style  of  life  ignorant  of 
the  sensation  of  fatigue.  I  do  not  believe  there  are  fifty 
persons  in  this  audience  who  are  not  tired.  Your  head 
is  tired,  or  your  back  is  tired,  or  your  foot  is  tired,  or 
your  brain  is  tired,  or  your  nerves  are  tired.  Longjour- 
neying,  or  business  application,  or  bereavement,  or  sick- 
ness have  put  on  you  heavy  weights.  So  the  vast  ma- 
jority of  those  who  went  out  of  this  world  went  out 
fatigued.  About  the  poorest  place  to  rest  in,  is  this 
world.  Its  atmosphere,  its  surroundings,  and  even  its 
hilarities  are  exhausting.  So  God  stops  our  earthly 
life,  and  mercifully  closes  the  eyes,  and  more  especially 
gives  quiescence  to  the  lung  and  heart,  that  have  not 
had  ten  minutes'  rest  from  the  first  respiration  and  the 
first  beat. 

DRUM  BEATS  OF  THE  HEART. 

If  a  drummer  boy  were  compelled  in  the  army  to 
beat  his  drum  for  twenty -four  hours  without  stopping, 
his  officer  would  be  court  martialed  for  cruelty.  If  the 
drummer  boy  should  be  commanded  to  beat  his  drum 
for  a  week  without  ceasing,  day  and  night,  he  would 
die  in  attempting  it.  But  under  your  vestment  is  a 
poor  heart  that  began  its  drum  beat  for  the  march  of 
life  thirty,  or  forty,  or  sixty,  or  eighty  years  ago,  and 
it  has  had  no  furlough  by  day  or  night;  and  whether  in 
conscious  or  comatose  state,  it  went  right  on,  for  if  it 
had  stopped  seven  seconds  your  life  would  have  closed. 
Am\  your  heart  will  keep  going  until  sometime  after 


KASTER  THOUGHT^. 


319 


your  Spirit  has  flown,  for  the  ausculator  says  that  after 
the  last  expiration  of  lung  and  the  last  throb  of  pulse, 
and  after  the  spirit  is  released,  the  heart  keeps  on  beat- 
ing for  a  time.  What  a  mercy,  then,  it  is  that  the 
grave  is  the  place  where  that  wondrous  machinery  of 
ventricle  and  artery  can  halt ! 

Under  the  healthful  chemistry  of  the  soil  all  the 
wear  and  tear  of  nerve  and  muscle  and  bone  will  be 
subtracted  and  that  bath  of  good,  fresh,  clean  soil  will 
wash  off  the  last  ache,  and  then  some  of  the  same  style 
of  dust  out  of  which  the  body  of  Adam  was  con- 
structed may  be  infused  into  the  resurrection  body. 
How  can  the  bodies  of  the  human  race,  which  have  had 
no  replenishment  from  the  dust  since  the  time  of  Adam 
in  Paradise,  get  any  recuperation  from  the  storehouse 
from  which  he  was  constructed  without  our  going  back 
into  the  dust?  That  original,  life  giving  material  hav- 
ing been  added  to  the  body  as  it  once  was,  and  all  the 
defects  left  behind,  what  a  body  will  be  the  resurrection 
body !  And  will  not  hundreds  of  thousands  of  such 
appearing  above  the  Gowanus  heights  make  Green- 
wood more  beautiful  than  any  June  morning  after  a 
shower  ?  The  dust  of  the  earth  being  the  original  ma- 
terial for  the  fashioning  of  the  first  human  being,  we 
have  to  go  back  to  the  same  place  to  get  a  perfect 
body. 

Factories  are  apt  to  be  rough  places,  and  those 
who  toil  in  them  have  their  garments  grimy  and  their 
hands  smutched.  But  who  cares  for  that  w^hen  they 
turn  out  for  us  beautiful  musical  instruments  or  ex- 
quisite upholstery  ?  What  though  the  grave  is  a  rough 
place,  it  is  a  resurrection  body  manufactory,  and  from 
it  shall  come  the  radiant  and  resplendent  forms  of  our 
friends  on  the  brightest  morning  the  world  ever  saw. 


320 


TALMAGE^S  SERMONS. 


You  put  into  a  factory  cotton,  and  it  comes  out  ap- 
paral.  You  put  into  a  factory  lumber  and  lead,  and  it 
comes  out  pianos  and  organs.  And  so  into  the  factory 
of  the  grave,  you  put  in  pneumonias  and  consumptions 
and  they  come  out  health.  You  put  in  groans  and 
they  come  out  hallelujahs.  For  us,  on  the  final  day, 
the  most  attractive  places  will  not  be  the  parks  or  the 
gardens  or  the  palaces,  but  the  cemeteries. 

We  are  not  told  in  v^hat  season  that  day  will  come. 
If  it  should  be  winter,  those  who  come  up  will  be  more 
lustripus  than  the  snow  that  covered  them.  If  in  the 
autumn,  those  who  come  up  will  be  more  gorgeous 
than  the  woods  after  the  frosts  have  penciled  them.  If 
in  the  spring,  the  bloom  on  which  they  tread  will  be 
dull  compared  with  the  rubicund  of  their  cheeks.  Oh, 
the  perfect  resurrection  body !  Almost  everybody  has 
some  defective  spot  in  his  physical  constitution;  a  dull 
ear,  or  a  dim  eye,  or  a  rheumatic  foot,  or  a  neuralgic 
brow,  or  a  twisted  muscle,  or  a  weak  side,  or  an  m- 
flamed  tonsil,  or  some  point  at  which  the  east  wind  or 
a  season  of  overwork  assaults  him.  But  the  resurrec- 
tion body  shall  be  without  one  weak  spot,  and  all  that 
the  doctors,  and  nurses,  and  apothecaries  of  earth  will 
thereafter  have  to  do,  will  be  to  rest  without  interrup- 
tion after  the  broken  nights  of  their  earthly  existence. 
Not  only  will  that  day  be  the  beautification  of  well 
kept  cemeteries,  but  some  of  the  graveyards  that  have 
been  neglected  and  been  the  pasture  ground  for  cattle, 
and  rooting  places  for  swine,  will  for  the  first  time, 
have  attractiveness  given  them. 

It  was  a  shame  that  in  that  place  ungrateful  genera- 
tions planted  no  trees,  and  twisted  no  garlands,  and 
sculptured  no  marble  for  their  Christian  ancestory;  but 
on  the  day  of  which  I  speak  the  resurrected  shall  make 


EASTER  THOUGHTS. 


321 


the  place  of  their  feet  glorious .  From  under  the  shadow 
of  the  church,  where  they  slumbered  among  nettles,  and 
mullein  stalks,  and  thistles,  and  slabs  aslant,  they  shall 
rise  with  a  glory  that  shall  flash  the  windows  of  the 
village  church,  and  by  the  bell  tower  that  used  to  call 
them  to  worship,  and  above  the  old  spire  beside  which 
their  prayers  formerly  ascended.  What  triumphal  pro- 
cession never  did  for  a  street,  what  an  oratorio  never 
did  for  an  academy,  what  an  orator  never  did  for  a 
brilliant  auditory,  what  obelisk  never  did  for  a  king, 
ressurrection  morn  will  do  for  all  the  cemeteries. 

HE  IS  RISEN  INDEED. 

This  Easter  tells  us  that  in  Christ's  resurrection  our 
resurrection,  if  we  are  his,  and  the  resurrection  of  all  the 
pious  dead,  is  assured,  for  he  was  *^the  first  fruits  of 
them  that  slept/'  Renan  says  he  did  not  rise,  but  five 
hundred  and  eighty  witnesses,  sixty  of  them  Christ's 
enemies,  say  he  did  rise,  for  they  saw  him  after  he  had 
risen.  If  he  did  not  rise,  how  did  sixty  armed  soldiers 
let  him  get  away?  Surely  sixty  living  soldiers  ought  to 
be  able  to  keep  one  dead  man!  Blessed  be  God!  He  did 
get  away.  After  his  resurrection  Mary  Magdalene  saw 
him.  Cleopas  saw  him.  Ten  disciples  in  an  upper 
room  at  Jerusalem,  saw  him.  On  a  mountain  the  eleven 
saw  him.  Five  hundred  at  once  saw  him.  Professor 
Ernest  Renan,  who  did  not  see  him,  will  excuse  us  for 
taking  the  testimony  of  the  five  hundred  and  eighty 
who  did  see  him.  Yes,  yes;  he  got  away.  And  that 
makes  me  ^ure  that  our  departed  loved  ones  and  we 
ourselves  shall  get  away.  Freed  himself  from  the 
shackles  of  clod,  he  is  not  going  to  leave  us  and  ours  in 
the  lurch. 

There  will  be  no  doorknob  on  the  inside  of  ourfamily 


322 


taIvMage's  sermons. 


sepulcher,  for  we  cannot  come  out,  of  ourselves;  but 
there  is  a  door  knob  on  the  outside,  and  that  Jesus  shall 
lay  hold  of,  and,  opening,  will  say:  **Good  morning! 
You  have  slept  long  enough!  Arise!  Arise! And  then 
whatllutter  of  wings,  and  what  flashing  of  rekindled 
eyes,  and  what  gladsome  rushing  across  the  family  lot, 
with  cries  of  ^'Father,  is  that  you?"  ^'Mother,  is  that 
you?''  ''My  darling,  is  that  you?''  ''Howyouall  have 
changed!  The  cough  gone,  the  croup  gone,  the  con- 
sumption gone,  the  paralysis  gone,  the  weariness  gone. 
Come,  let  us  ascend  together!  The  older  ones  first,  the 
younger  ones  next!  Quick  now,  get  into  line!  The  sky- 
ward procession  has  alreadj'  started!  Steer  now  by 
that  embankment  of  cloud  for  the  nearest  gate!"  And, 
as  we  ascend,  on  one  side  the  earth  gets  smaller  until 
it  is  no  larger  than  a  mountain,  and  smaller  until  it  is 
no  larger  than  a  palace,  and  smaller  until  it  is  no  larger 
than  a  ship,  and  smaller  until  it  is  no  larger  than  a 
wheel,  and  smaller  until  it  is  no  larger  than  a  speck. 

Farewell,  dissolving  earth!  But  on  the  other,  side, 
as  we  rise,  heaven  at  first  appears  no  larger  than  your 
hand.  And  nearer  it  looks  like  a  chariot,  and  nearer  it 
looks  like  a  throne,  and  nearer  it  looks  like  a  star,  and 
nearer  it  looks  like  a  sun,  and  nearer  it  looks  like  a 
universe.  Hail,  scepters  that  shall  always  wave!  Hail, 
anthems  that  shall  always  roll !  Hail,  companionships 
never  again  4:0  part!  That  is  what  resurrection  day 
will  do  for  all  the  cemeteries  and  graveyards  from  the 
Machpelah  that  was  opened  by  Father  Abraham  in 
Hebron  to  the  Machpelah  yesterday  consecrated.  And 
that  makes  Lady  Huntington's  immortal  rhythm  most 
apposite: 

When  thou,  my  righteous  judge,  shall  come 
To  take  thy  ransomed  people  home, 


EASTER  THOUGHTS. 


323 


Shall  I  among  them  stand? 
Shall  such  a  worthless  worm  as  I, 
Who  sometimes  am  afraijd  to  die, 

Be  found  at  thy  right  hand? 

Among  thy  saints  let  me  be  found, 
When'er  th'  archangel's  trump  shall  sound; 

To  see'thy  spiiling  face; 
Then  loudest  of  the  throng  I'll  sing, 
While  heaven's  resounding  arches  ring, 
With  shouts  of  sovereign  grace. 


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▲n  Instrument  that  Enables  Deaf  Persons  to  Hear  Ordinary  Ooe^ 
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if  desired. 

When  adjusted  for  hearing,  it  is  in  suitable  tension  and 
the  upper  edge  is  pressed  slightly  against  one  or  more  of 
the  upper  teeth. 

Ordinary  conversation  can  be  heard  with  ease.  In  most 
cases  deafness  is  not  detected. 

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Ck)nversational,  small «  ^  $6.00 

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